Eliza
by Hachichi the Medic
Summary: Takes place before episode 20 of "Paradise is Where the Heart Is". Fujuju has been secretive about his past and who exactly the first Pekoponian he met on Pekopon was-Until now. Now it's time for him to sit down, remember seventy years in the past, and talk about Eliza.
1. Chapter 1

Welcome to the "where-on-Earth-do-I-put-this?" spinoff I've had a lot of requests for since this character premiered. Well, here it is It began as a chapter, then blossomed into this quickly, heh. So I WILL be back to my normal routine, let me just... Get through this, first :D

I don't know why I've been writing a lot of Fujuju stories lately, maybe because his voice is so much like mine and summer's made me lazy, or I just think there's a lot to this character that's worth writing about… Eh, I just have fun with him, but I don't want the little guy to overstay his welcome and become a Pururu character. So enjoy this, this is the probably the last I'll use him for a while. As a main character, at least.

I quickly knew this was going to turn into something too long to be a chapter, so I said, "Hey, I'm just going to type this up as something separate, then". I also knew I had to get this off of my chest while I still felt like writing it ^_^'

It's a lot more than length that makes this different from other chapters, though. I try to stick with a Keroro Gunso tone, that goes along with the show, and make the "episodes" something you could nod and say, "Yeah, that could be in an episode". This definitely would never be an episode… I mean, it's World War II. I didn't want to make another Titanic: The Animated Musical Adventure. So yeah, this is darker. And there's a lot less sci-fi or shtick. That's some of the reasons I had reservations about posting this story at all.

And it's a lot more… I'm not sure how to put it exactly. I think there's a little more of my personal thumbprint on this than I've had in other stories, I think the closest I've come otherwise is a chapter I just finished up, with Kirere and Haruki's friendship. I let loose the reigns there a bit, too. Maybe I should do that more, I don't know.

Well, if you're not familiar with the story so far, let me fill you in with everything. The rest of the class can leave for recess and whatnot. It is a Keroro Gunso fanfic, or told in that universe at least. Fujuju Soucho is one of the members of the first platoon sent to Pekopon millions of years ago, only to crash then wake up in another time period, the universe completely changed around them. He was a scientist on Keron, but his strong pyromania quickly quelled any hopes of him becoming a successful scientist. He befriends the platoon, and they are the ones who draw him out of his shell; when he's first found, he's been a shut-in on Pekopon for fifteen years, his only friends his books.

He is the tutor of two children, a set of twins, Maggie and Oliver Martin, who are about Fuyuki's age. Currently his roommate is Botan, the last of a race of "Time Benders", ancient alien time police whose job it was to make sure there were no "hiccups" in the Time-Space continuum.  
I think that about puts you up to speed, if not, the rest will probably be answered along the way. Thanks for reading!

Fujuju, Maggie, and Oliver, image link:  
art/ ... -126332786

Botan, image link:  
art/ ... -128685831

PART 1:

In the middle of a once-cluttered bachelor pad, there were signs of life. Signs of cleaning. Botan, now a month as Fujuju's houseguest, was continuing her obsessive cleaning. It didn't take long for anyone to realize she liked her home like she liked her work—Perfect, orderly, and neat.  
This resulted in Fujuju's work being put off for cleaning, and while he suffered through this good-humoredly, even he escaped the house one afternoon to get out of the tidying up. As kind as he was to Maggie and Oliver, he was nowhere to be seen when it came time to do a weekend cleaning.

"UGH! How's he manage to get so much junk?!" Oliver grunted, and fell flat on his back, the large cardboard falling on his chest. "Mags… Help… This box has it out for me!"

Maggie gave a sigh of disgust and lifted up the same cardboard box with ease, "You're hopeless."

"Why are we doing all of this on our weekend, anyhow? I don't get it…"  
"Because he does for us all of the time, it's the least we could do!" she snapped, and Oliver gave a small heave of a sigh as he stood back up, and pulled another heavy box out of the closet. He set this down, but couldn't help but notice it was full of old, black disks.

"Hey, Mags, lookit! He had other records in here!" Oliver chuckled, and picked one out of the box. "Eh? Awful heavy…"

"That's because they're old…" she pulled out another one. "Printed in 1931?"

"Bloody… Gram wasn't even a thought then!" he chuckled. "Hey, let's put one on! What do ya say!?"

"They were probably up here so they wouldn't get damaged, Ollie," Maggie muttered worriedly. "He wouldn't like us going through his things like this, we're just supposed to be cleaning up for him…"

"Ah, he'd probably love it! He's probably forgotten all about these! Lookit all of the dust!" Oliver chuckled, and rushed out to the record player in the living room. Botan turned her head from her dusting, and quietly watched as he opened the turntable and switched it on, then laid the record on it. He had to set the switch twice, to the 78 RPM mode, to get it to play correctly.

"Hey, I think I've heard this one!" Maggie laughed. "Life is just a bowl of cherries… I remember! Gram sang this sometimes!" she nodded and sang along to it, even though the vocal part had yet to start up. "I'm gonna see if there's any others in there!"

"Right," Oliver nodded, and Botan only walked closer to the turntable, taking a seat and listening to the music curiously.

"This song was made in the middle of a really bad Depression, our Gram told us all about it," Oliver explained to the curious Time Bender. "Not bad for a bunch of people who dressed funny, huh?"

While they listened to this, Maggie had returned to the box. She opened the flaps, and noticed that there were more than 78's in the box; there was also another photo. She pulled it out, and studied it. There was that Professor Grant again, with an adult woman standing next to him on a railed deck, behind them, large snowy mountains. The woman also looked familiar…

She was drawn out of her meditating on the picture when she heard a sound scratch, followed by a smashing noise. She rushed back out, and saw Fujuju front of the record player, bits of the record everywhere on the ground. He looked disturbed, and as though he were going to go into an asthma attack from panic.

"Fujuju…" Maggie knelt down next to him; he was shaking, horribly.

"I… I'm sorry… I just… Hadn't wanted to hear that song again," he said quietly to them. "It's too painful still."

"More of that Eliza bird, right?" Oliver asked; Maggie shot him a glare and he flinched. "What?! I didn't even say anything bad!"

"No, you didn't, Oliver," Fujuju shook his head, and took a seat on the couch next to Botan. "I just…"

"Will you tell us about her?" Maggie asked gently, taking a seat on the other side of him. Oliver took a seat next to his sister on the couch, and all eyes were on Fujuju.

"That would involve going into so much…" he muttered, and shut his eyes. "I… I never even got to say goodbye to her."

"I can show them, if you want," Botan spoke up, and he looked at her, surprised. "It would mean reliving it, though. And it may take a little trying; my powers are still unstable without my staff."

"No. I don't want that, not just yet," he hopped off of the couch, and ventured into his bedroom. "I'm sorry, children. I… I need to get my rest in. I know you were all helping me, but…. Please. I've had enough help. For the weekend."

He disappeared into his bedroom, closing the door behind himself, and Maggie and Oliver stood there, stunned.

"Aw, he didn't mean it!" Oliver patted his sister on the back and smiled. "You know how he is when he gets to talkin' about his past and that!"

"Hrm?" Botan glanced over at them, and Maggie gave her a bittersweet smile.

"He was on Earth before, but whenever we try to talk to him about it, he gets all… Tight-lipped and moody," Maggie explained.

"Did it involve a woman?" asked Botan.

"Bloody… Yeah! You're good!" Oliver gasped. "What, did you see his past for yourself?! That's not very fair!"

"No, she just knows how men work," Maggie answered. "We'll be off, but… We'll be back in a bit to check on him. I know you don't like getting involved in things, but… Could you make sure he's all right?"

Botan simply answered with a nod, and watched as the two walked out of the home. She then stood, and brushed back a bit of her white hair, and walked towards the closed bedroom door. She knocked on the wood, then slowly opened it.

Fujuju had undone his scarf, and had both pictures in hand while the red and yellow knitted clothing laid beside him on the floor, beside the box of records.

"The Martins were concerned about your well-being," Botan explained, and he turned around to face her briefly, then looked away, embarrassed.

"I can barely believe my own actions just now. I'll have to make them something nice, a real treat for dinner," he said with an affirming nod. She took a seat next to him on the floor, uninvited, and this surprised him. She glanced at the photos, and tilted her head to one side.

"Who are those people?" she asked quietly.

"Myself, in another time, as well as… A good, good friend of mine," Fujuju answered.

"You loved her?"

"That was part of my problem," he admitted with a small smile. "I'm selfish. I love to call them my children, yet… They aren't mine. And I ask them to share their life with me, yet… I can't do the same. I still keep them at arm's length. Could… Could you really show them everything that happened?"

"Yes," she nodded. "It would be the same as playing a recording."

"Nothing could be changed, but I could still revisit that time?" he continued.

"Nothing could be changed," she repeated with a nod. "And it would be from Time's point of view, not yours."

"Could we try it? I hate to put you on the spot with this, but… I don't see how a glimpse would hurt, since my own mind fails me on some facts still… Now how do we—"

Botan placed a hand on his forehead, and his eyes began to feel heavy, then he laid back on the floor slowly, as if he were planning on taking a nap there. And soon he was snoring and doing just this. And while this happened, Botan's eyes closed, and through his memories she was back into a different time.

"Miss!" the maid, an older woman dressed in a classic black and white ensemble, knocked on the library door once more, to get the attention of the teenage girl laid out on the heavy carpet, heavy books laid out in front of her. She shook her head and walked in, closing the book on the girl and sighing, finding this was how to get her attention. "Miss. Your father's home."

"What?" she sat up, her blue eyes wide. "How long has it been he's been home?! And why didn't you tell me!?" she bolted up from her spot on the floor, leaving her pile of books abandoned. The maid heaved a sigh and shook her head once more as she went to cleaning up the books.

"Really, that child is impossible!" she mumbled, and began to lift up the heavy leather-bound novels.

"Father!" she called out, and ran down the tile hall. "Father!" her black shoes clicked along the floor all the way, and she stopped at the middle of the hall, where the front entrance to the home was located. Also there was her father, his bags surrounding his feet, as well as another square object, this with a heavy green blanket over it. She could have sworn she saw it move as she moved closer to her father and embraced him. He returned this and laughed, spinning her around once and setting her back firmly on the ground.

"Eliza!" he laughed cheerfully, grinning through the heavy brown mustache and then leaning in to kiss her on the forehead. "My dear, just when I thought I'd never see that smile again!"

"How was it? How was your trip? How was Denmark?" she asked excited, and he sighed.

"Going through the same times we are. Worse, actually," he answered, giving a brief frown and returning to his smile quickly afterward. "No matter! I have something for you! A few G.I.'s found it, weren't quite sure what to make of him! I mentioned I had a daughter who loved animals, so they allowed me to bring him home! He's a feisty little thing, though."

"A dog? Father, you finally got me a dog!" Eliza clasped her hands together happily.

"Not quite. Actually I think he's some sort of lizard, but you're not one to discriminate," he answered, and pulled off the green blanket.

Eliza gasped at what she saw before her. A tiny body, large, dull, green eyes, that looked up at her for a moment, then back down at the floor of the cage. He looked exhausted, and there was a mark of where there had been a wound on his neck.

"They were fishing when they caught him… They think that's where that came from," her father explained, bending down and making a motion across his neck with his finger. "He's a little bit of a sorry sight now, my dear, but I think with time he'll prove a fine pet for you! Well, what do you think?"

"I'm speechless," she answered. She could have sworn the creature laughed wryly a bit at this.

"I hope you like this," she said to the still-caged creature as he now sat in her bedroom, looking out at her. She turned on the record player and the music started; the greenish-yellow frog looked at the record player and the sounds coming from it with interest, even scooting closer to the side of the cage that was closest to the record player. "Hehe, looks like you do! I'm going to let you out, all right? But don't go leaving, it's not safe for anyone to be out now! They've been dropping more and more bombs, lately, it seems. I won't harm you, I promise."

She crawled over to the cage on the floor, and removed the key from around her neck, and slowly undid the lock. He took a few steps out, and went to fall. She quickly caught him and lifted him up like a ragdoll. "It looks like you couldn't leave if you wanted to, anyway, Elijah."  
He looked up at her curiously, and she chuckled. "That's what I'm going to call you, Elijah! You have that mark on your stomach that looks like an 'E', so I thought it befitting! Do you like it?"

He only looked ahead, indifferent. She couldn't help but notice he shook a little bit as he held her, "…That's right! You're probably cold-blooded, being a reptile. Here…" she moved over to her bed, and pulled off a blanket, wrapping him in it and sitting back, getting back to her work, "I was going to make this a sweater, but I think it's going to have a better purpose now," she said, lifting up the knitting she'd been working on; yellow and red stripes, so far only a little work in progress. "You'll love it! Hrm?" she tilted her head up as she heard the familiar sirens, and she immediately dropped her work, and lifted him up, blanket and all.

"Eliza!" her father rushed out of the hallway, as did the maid, both dressed in their nightclothes.

"I know!" she called out, and headed downstairs and then down another level, into a dark room.

The rumbling started soon afterward; as soon as the scent of soot wafted down into the cellar, the blanket began to stir. He fought harder and harder in the dark, but Eliza only held him tighter, until the rumbling stopped, and she gave a little yelp in the dark.

"Are you all right?" her father asked in a panic.

"Yes, I am. Don't worry, he just kicked," she answered. "Father?... Do you think it's all right to go up now?"

"…." he listened for a bit, then nodded. "…We were lucky again this time…" he said quietly as they walked back upstairs, their home still intact.  
There were orange and yellow lights visible in the distance from Eliza's room, but she kept her head turned away from all of this, and set the bundled, exhausted blanket down on the bed. He looked at her with disdain until she pulled the blanket away, and he noticed all of the blood.

He felt his blood chill as he realized it was from a bite he'd delivered her.

"Oh, this? I must've gotten it during the rush," she shrugged it off and walked out to the bathroom, coming back with a box of bandages and alcohol. "No matter! Fortunately I'm used to scrapes like these!"

He said nothing, only looked down at the fresh wound, ashamed.

The next morning, he was awoken by the sensation of something draped over him; he opened one eye and held up the red and yellow scarf, a small "E" symbol stitched onto one of the ends.

Eliza gave a yawn and smiled proudly at her handiwork; he rolled over and bolted up as he realized he'd fallen asleep on the bed from exhaustion. She looked tired; he glanced down at the scarf, and realized she'd been up most of the night working on this.

"…Thank you…" Eliza stopped heading toward her dresser suddenly, and turned around to him slowly.

"Did you just… Thank me?" she asked in a whisper.

"Thank you," Fujuju again said, evenly.

She fell to her knees and quickly scooted over to the bed, her eyes wide, "You're some sort of a parrot! That settles it, Darwin was right! Birds ARE related to reptiles! This… This is astounding!"

"…I'm more closely related to an amphibian, if anything," he replied, uneasy at the look she gave him. "I'm not even certain what a parrot is."

"W-Wait, so… You're thinking this, and you're talking just as I am!?" she balked, and reached out, poking the Keronian to make sure he was real. She then pinched herself, giving a yelp as she did so.

"Are you mad!?" he asked with a frown, and she shook her head.

"I just wanted to make sure I'd woken up at all!" she admitted.

"Another planet?" her eyes were wide as they sat out on a blanket in the back yard. He took a sip from the tea cup, just as an Englishman would, and nodded.

"And I've only recently awoken, in what I was told was the "Seine". From the looks of things, however, my escape pod had been touring your oceans for some time," he answered. "There had to have been some sort of malfunction."

"Well, where is it? I could look it over for you!" she said excitedly. "But you'll have to tell me all about your technology in exchange!"

"Destroyed," he answered regretfully, and finished his tea. He then took a bite of his sandwich, and studied it. "…Could use some more kick."

"Things are tight right now, even people well off can't afford a lot of luxuries," she admitted.

"Well, if I'm to be here, I may as well learn about your kind for the time being. Until the search party comes, of course," he said while taking a bite of the sandwich.

"But it's 1940; it's been millions of years since you left," Fujuju started choking on his sandwich at this news.

"I was out for that long?!" he exclaimed in disbelief, and she only nodded. "Dear, dear… I think I need to pinch myself, now."

She reached out and pinched his arm, and he yelped, then looked up at her, annoyed, "Well, I thought I'd take care of it for you!"

"Now don't get into any trouble while I'm gone, all right?" she said as she led him to the library. "Just… Try to entertain yourself. Look at the pictures if you want."

"I can read your language without any difficulty," he answered with a weary sigh. "Where will you be during all of this?"

"Sneaking out to see my boyfriend. Don't tell my father, all right?" she winked and chuckled, and closed the door behind him.

"Millions and millions of years…" Fujuju graced the shelves with his fingers, looking over the book titles. "And they managed all of this? Not bad for a fairly primitive country… Hrm? Eliot? This looks promising…" he muttered, and pulled the book from the shelf, looked over the cover, and cracked it open. "My…That's a beautiful sound…"

"The library?" the young, blonde boy moaned. "But that place is so boring! And not exactly romantic, either…"

"Don't be so crude!" Eliza chided him. "It's my favorite part of the house! And we'll have one just like it when we have our own place!"

"….Whatever you say, but I still don't see the point of you spending all of your time in that dingy place…" he muttered. "You'll get old before your time! Plus all of the time you spend there is time you could be spending on more important things!"

"You among them, I suppose," she said with a smile, and he looked at her, serious and a bit hurt by her laughing.

"That's exactly what I was thinking!" he answered with a pout. "You're going to be seventeen, Eliza, you should really start thinking about more important things."

"I will, Thomas, I just… Oh?" she blinked and opened the wooden doors; books were spread out everywhere, half opened. Fujuju sat laid out on the floor, just as she had been the day before, and looked up from his reading as he noticed he wasn't alone.

"What's this hideous thing?!" Thomas gaped at the sight of Fujuju, and lifted up the Keronian by the back of the neck.

"Don't do that to him!" Eliza gasped, and took him from Thomas's hands protectively.

"Wonderful, another distraction. What is it, anyway?" he asked with a sigh. "And why's it in a scarf?"

"He gets cold easily! And he's a…. He's from the Galapagos! " she exclaimed.

"The what-now?"

"They're islands in there… Never mind it… I think you hurt him when you lifted him up like that, Thomas!" she sighed. "Wait for me outside, all right?"  
"Right. But if your father happens to show up, I'm out of here as quickly as possible…" he muttered, and closed the door again. Eliza rushed to lock the door, and set Fujuju down on the floor.

"That twit was your boyfriend?"

"He means well, honest," she answered, and sat cross-legged on the floor, and undid the scarf. "Are you all right? I don't want you to get—"  
"I appreciate it, but you're incredibly invasive!" he took a step back from her, and shooed away her hands. "I'm fine, I've suffered worse through the military training."

"You're a soldier?!" she gasped.

"A sergeant major," Fujuju answered.

"Thomas is looking to go into the military, just as soon as he becomes old enough!" Eliza exclaimed.

"Wonderful. He'd do well on a front line," Fujuju said beneath his breath, then lifted up a book. "This here… Do you have any more by this author? He's…. Incredibly talented. One of the best I've read yet!"

"You're asking if there's more Shakespeare books… In London," she laughed. "I think you landed in the right place at the right time after all, Elijah!"

Fujuju yawned as he flipped a page in the large book; Eliza looked up from her sewing and smiled a bit in amusement, tweed scraps littering her light blue dress. She looked about, taken aback as the lights flickered then went out, "Dear… Power outage… I'll get a candle."

"No! Don't! Please, I… I beg of you…" Fujuju leapt from his spot on the bed and hurried over to her, tugging on the hem of her skirt. "Don't… No flames…"

"Hrm?" she blinked, and lifted him up, able to make out his expression in the light available from the moon outside her window. "You're afraid of fire?"

"No, it's… Something else…" Fujuju explained quietly. "I… It's a condition I have… It's one that's haunted me, and… Fire agitates it."

"You're a pyromaniac? Blimey, you're a troubled one all right! Explains why you were so upset during that bomb raid, though," she sighed, and took a seat on the bed, him on her lap. "I suppose I'm not much different then. From you, that is."

"I doubt you've caused half of a city to go up in flames, my dear," Fujuju said with a scoff.

"No, but… I don't feel like I'm in the right place. You feel that, right?"  
"Ever since I awoke to find I was someone's catch of the day. But… Even on Keron, I suppose that's an accurate way to describe my feelings," he answered.

"At least you have an excuse, you really are from out of this world," she laid down on the bed and yawned, and let go of her grip of him. "…My tutors treat me like a little fool. They make things too easy for me because they know I won't accomplish anything."

"Now don't say that! You're just as able bodied enough to become a soldier, or—" he was surprised as she cut him off with a laugh.

"Women don't become soldiers, Elijah," she chuckled. "Well, not the type that fight, as far as I know… Sometimes secretaries, or nurses! Occasionally, if they're lucky, they become actresses! On rare occasion they've become pilots, or chemists, but it's nothing someone like I could become."

"Well, what about with the right tutor?"

"I suppose anything's possible," she answered. "Mm, what am I saying? I'm talking to a creature from out of this world, and yet I still think anything other than a good wife and mother is out of my reach."

"Well… What would you like to be?"

"If I could be anything?... A physicist, like my father is," she answered after a pause. She was asleep soon after.

"…You'll be the best one, Eliza. I promise it," he said quietly.


	2. Chapter 2

Part 2, already... Whew... Yes, and... I'm a bit tried XD Six go-overs with the chapter, I hope I have everything I want in place for it now. Thank you all again for all of the kind words.

...I'm off to get some much-needed rest. Have a good one, and please enjoy.

PART 2:

"Well would you look at him!" Eliza's father laughed as he looked over Fujuju the following morning. The Keronian looked uncomfortable in the suit, but Eliza laughed, and adjusted the small tie. "He seems to like it!"  
There was a knock on the door, and her father rose, leaving his paper, cigarette, and breakfast behind on the kitchen table.

"How does it fit?" she asked quietly.

"Perfectly, but what's this thing for?" he asked, holding up the light blue tie. "For the life of me, I can't seem to figure it out! Some sort of status symbol?"

"I heard it was a quick way out if your stocks didn't fare so well," she replied in a whisper, and stood as her new tutor walked in. He was an old, frail man, with thick glasses, who tipped his hat to her, then removed it, and walked with her into the library.

Fujuju followed quietly, after checking that Eliza's father had gone back to his paper. He rushed into the library just as the doors closed, and watched the tutor and the girl from a secluded spot behind a large desk.

"Now, my dear! Let us get to work, and hope that there are no more distractions from those blasted planes, eh?" he laughed, and Eliza only returned this with a bored smile. She cracked open her books, and it was clear from the look on her face as she read over the mathematical rules that she was bored out of her mind.

"Poor thing…" Fujuju said to himself, and sat cross-legged beneath the desk, listening in on this.

"Sir… You have this problem written wrong," he heard her say from the main area. The tutor only laughed condescendingly.

"Dear child, I think if you double check your equations, you'll see no error in my arithmetic. Try it again."

"But I do," she answered. "Here. Look now, you're off a few decimals!"  
"Now now, no need to worry yourself, silly girl. We'll get back to it later."

"But, I…"

Fujuju frowned, and his hands gripped the shag carpet; he thought back to his training days, and thought back to something that had been told to him. His eyes widened at his own stupidity as he realized he'd forgotten about an advanced cloaking device they'd been given, something to help them all blend if if they were to encounter an alien species.

"Let's hope you really do work…" he shut his eyes and whispered.  
Both turned to look at the desk as it suddenly hopped up, and there was a groan from beneath it; the old tutor tottered over to it, and nearly fell back as a man hopped up from beneath the desk suddenly.

"Ms. Grant!" the man exclaimed. "I'm so sorry to keep you waiting! I had just seemed to have misplaced my glasses! I found them, though! No worries, no worries!"

The book slowly slid off of Eliza's lap and onto the floor, her mouth agape; the tall man with the curly light red hair, nervous smile, and wild green eyes didn't look familiar to her, but his voice was exactly the same.  
"Do… Do I know you?" asked the old tutor as Fujuju began to push him to the door.

"I believe so! I'm…. Professor… Elijah Grant! No relation to Miss Grant, of course! I think it was a year or so ago we crossed paths," Fujuju said as he helped the old man to the door.

"Ah, yes! I remember now! The lad at Caimbridge, you…" the tutor puttered on from here, thinking Fujuju was still behind him while in fact the Keronian in disguise had shut the library door long ago.

"How is it…" Eliza stood up, and shuffled over to him in disbelief, laying a hand on one of his cheeks. "You're… A human now?"

"It's a technology I couldn't even begin to explain," he said to her. "I appear to be one of your kind in every sense of the word now."

"That's… That's amazing!" she whispered. "Just now… You did that for me?"

"I had to; he was becoming painful to listen to. Much like my old superiors. It was an act of mercy for us both," he said with a chuckle. She jumped up at him, embracing him about the neck, and just at this time the door opened, and the maid dropped her silver tray. She quickly bent down to pick it up, and Fujuju started to help her, only to have his hands smacked away.

"Don't think I don't know your game! I know your type!" she snapped, and slammed the door; her voice could be heard bellowing out for Eliza's father outside.

"My type…. You don't think she saw through me, do you?!" he asked worried; Eliza only laughed.

"So his last name is also Grant?" her father nodded, and Eliza nodded in response. "Well, certainly does make it easy to remember!"

"Father… He lost his home, in a bombing," Eliza started. "He… He's too proud to ask, but… I want to, on his behalf! I'd like it if we took him in, until he got on his feet!"

"You always were one for taking in strays," he said with a fond smirk, and looked over to the anxious Fujuju. "…That's a familiar suit…."  
"It's a common one," Eliza interjected.

"Now, now, he can speak for himself, Eliza," her father chided her, and looked over to the anxious Fujuju. "How did you come to find this place, anyhow?"

"Your daughter was…. Simply too brilliant for the other tutors to handle," Fujuju answered, and looked up from his reading glasses to Eliza's father; it was unsure from his unmoving blue eyes whether or not he was accepting this story. "I teach on a university level, my goal is to offer Eliza a challenge."

"You're quite familiar with her, Professor Grant," her father said evenly, and Fujuju gulped a bit. "How old are you?"

"Twenty…. Five!" he said after some thought, having to do a quick conversion from Keronian to Pekoponian age. "I'm twenty-five years old."

"You look a bit older, but I suppose life like this does this to us," said Eliza's father, and he took a drag from his neglected cigarette. Fujuju watched the embers from the end of the cigarette in awe, but was pulled out of this as from beneath the table Eliza delivered a kick to his shin. He jumped, and her father tilted his head.

"Professor Grant! That spider must be still on you!" Eliza gasped.  
"Spider!?" Fujuju yelped.

"Spider?" Eliza's father repeated, and she nodded.

"That's what was happening in the library, Nanny thought it looked as though I were embracing Professor, but in fact a spider had gotten onto his shoulder…" she leaned in, and hit him on the back of the head, then looked down at her hand. "Oh, I got it now!"

"I'm sure you do," Fujuju muttered, rubbing his sore neck.

"Our maid will show you to your room, Professor," Eliza's father stood, and after a nudge from Eliza, Fujuju did the same. Her father held out his hand, and Fujuju took a moment to repeat this, and her father shook his hand heartily; it was actually more of a warning death grip. Fujuju knew exactly what it meant.

"…He's an odd one," her father muttered as Fujuju was led out of the room by the still-glaring maid. "Did you see his eyes? I've never seen any like that!"

"Well, that's because he's not from Britain, originally, Father," Eliza leant in and whispered. "He's Swiss."

"Swiss? Neutral bastard, no wonder he's so bizarre," muttered her father, and Eliza laughed.

"He came here in support of Britain! He's even got the beginnings of a fine, British accent!" she said with a bright smile.

"Is he a Catholic?"

"He's not very religious," she answered.

"Thank goodness for that," he stood up and pushed in his chair. "I want you to keep a close eye on him. He's young yet, and that's worrisome."

"Don't worry, Father! I have Thomas to think of, remember?"

Her father thought for a moment, then picked up his jacket from the back of the chair and looked up thoughtfully, "On second thought, he seems like an intelligent man, and you wouldn't have to change your name. Perhaps this is a good thing."

"Get to the university before they miss you," she laughed, and he sighed, embraced her, and then picked up his hat from the table and was gone for the morning.

"You managed all of this?" he said in awe as he sat on the made bed, and looked up at Eliza, who sat in a red wingback chair in the tiny room.

"Well, my uncle did," she replied. "He lived here for a time, then met this woman, and before we knew it they were off to the Caribbean together! He left most of his things, though, which is good news for you. I think, though… We might have to hem his clothing a bit…" she pulled out a pair of slacks from the closet, revealing that they were quite large; both she and he tutor broke into a laugh over this.

She took a seat on the bed, and smiled at him confidently, "If you teach me like you say you will, with real challenges, then I'll exchange the favor!"

"Hrm? How would that be?"

"I'm going to teach you what it is to be a person on this planet," she answered confidently.

"You are now, are you? Well… I suppose it'd be important to pick up such a skill, given my indefinite stay…."

"Good! First thing's first…" she leaned in and attempted to slick down the wild red hair. "Teach you how to use a hairbrush properly…"

"And then this here, and… Perfect! OH!" the maid yelped and jumped back as there was a crash, and a shot went across the room, and she ducked for cover. "They're invading! They're here!"

"No! Nanny! No, no they're not!" Eliza quickly ran in, and picked up a puck from the ground. "We were just studying the effects of velocity!"

"The what's that now?" Eliza helped her to stand again, and the maid was still panting as she stood there, one hand on the table for support.

"Pardon us!" Fujuju looked into the broken window, and the maid's face twisted into a frown, and she threw the feather duster at him. He was too slow to dodge this, and gave a grunt as the wooden handle hit his face.

"…You really don't like him, do you, Nanny?" Eliza said with a sigh.

"You should be glad! I probably fixed your nose for you!" the maid shouted, then went back to work, "I was a young woman once, myself. I know what men his age are like, and that's all the same… Between him and that Thomas boy! Two weeks this tutor's been here, and I see you dividing your time between him and that mongrel you bring into your father's home!... Ah, to be young," she ended with a giggle.

"Nanny, I'm actually going out with Thomas tonight, I was wondering if—"

"I needn't lie for you; your father's working late tonight. So blissfully I'm able to stay out of it."

"Perfect!" Eliza squealed, and rushed out of the house, back to Fujuju. He sat in the garden, still rubbing his aching face.

"Did she fix it?" he removed his hand, and allowed Eliza to look. She smiled sadly at the large red mark.

"No, in fact, I think it's worse," she chuckled. "I think we better stop with lessons today, unless you really want her to do you some good harm. Now it's time for your lesson!"

"Hrm?" Fujuju looked at her curiously as she pulled out a pack of cigarettes, large, black LUCKY STRIKE written on a red dot. She removed a pack of matches from her skirt pocket, and lit the cigarette while balancing it in her mouth. She then transferred it into his, and he broke into a cough.

"What… What on Earth is that thing?!" he choked, removing it from his mouth. "It's awful!"

"Indeed, but you don't want to burn anything now, do you?"

"No! I want a breath of fresh air!" he coughed, and tossed the cigarette. Eliza laughed, and extinguished it on the concrete.

"Everyone does this; it's something you'll have to get used to if you're going to be around other men! Even Thomas does this!" she explained. "I got these from him."

"Well, give them back!" Fujuju coughed. "I… I feel like someone squeezed onto my lungs!"

"Really, don't carry on so," she sighed, and stood up as a red car pulled up to the fence; she rushed to the gate, opening it and embracing the young, good-looking boy who stood there. "Tommy! You're early!"

"Ah, it's never too early, as far as I'm concerned," he laughed, and she returned it with a happy giggle.

"There's someone I want you to meet… This is my tutor, Mr. Grant. No relation."

"I wasn't worried," Thomas answered, and shook Fujuju's hand after the Keronian in disguise stood. "…Have we met?"

"I don't believe you two have met," she said quickly, and pulled him away from Fujuju. "But now you have! Shall we go?"

"Where are you two off to?" Fujuju asked when they were halfway to the car; Eliza turned around and looked at him a moment, then at Thomas.

"Well, why don't you come, and we'll show you? It'll be like another lesson!" Thomas balked at this, but Fujuju looked surprised and even a bit happy at the thought of an invite.

"Really, your bloody tutor?" he whispered. "Why don't you just bring along your father, too? How about your maid? Let's bring the neighborhood, shall we?"

"Oh, it'll be fine! He's not that much older than us!" she reassured him, and Thomas only gave a grumble as Fujuju climbed into the back seat unsurely.

"They all have wheels like this?" he said to himself as he leaned over the side.

"Of course! What the hell did you think they'd have?!" Thomas snapped as he climbed in. "You think they'd fly or something?!"

"Well—" but Eliza stopped him with a panicked look, and he remained quiet for the rest of the trip, watching all of the cars passing them by and getting his first look at the city. It was busier than he remembered his own being, and simply crawling with humans….

The city eventually became more and more rural, and it grew later and later, until Fujuju fell asleep in the back of the car; he was only awaken by the slamming of a car door, and he bolted up, and looked about; it was almost pitch-black, and Eliza and Thomas were already headed to the old barn, which through the boards could be seen bright yellow lights.

When he walked in, he was greeted by the blast of a record player, and dozens of other people, mainly teenagers and a bit older, some men in military uniforms, dancing, drinking, and in a few corners even gambling. This was close to a Keronian bar, he realized. He'd felt as alienated there as he did now, amongst all of the laughing young people.

"Come on, now! You're going to have a good time! If you're going to stay here, you've got to learn what someone in your age and social standing does!" Eliza took him by the hand and led him deeper into the crowd; from Thomas's face, it was easy to tell he did not like this set up at all. "Tommy, we'll be right back!"

"Oh, you two have fun, don't mind me!" he called out and grumbled as he walked away from the two.

"Now come on, they must have had some sort of dancing where you were from, right?"

"Yes, but… I never did any of it," he answered, and watched the dancers around him; they looked as though they were convulsing, or worse, with one another. "Is… Is this what you do when your father's not around!?"

"Not just me—Lots of people!" she laughed, and took his other hand. "Come on now, I'll show you how. Nothing bad, just…. Follow my lead! I'll teach you something else now!"

He did this, although it was safe to say he had little rhythm; Eliza still tried, though, giggling a bit through the song, "You're not bad!"

"I'm not?"

"No, you're awful. But you'll get the hang of it! Come on, now, don't be shy!" she laughed. "I won't bite you!"

He finished up the dance, grateful as she let go of his hands finally, and Thomas was quick to butt in between the two, "What on Earth was that about?"

"Don't tell me you're jealous!" Eliza gasped, looking back at a puzzled Fujuju.

"Of him? Please…" Thomas laughed. "If he's anything like he dances, I have nothing to worry about."

She laughed uneasily at this, but danced with Thomas, losing sight of Fujuju for a good hour. When she finally did see him through the crowd, she was aghast with horror; there were several men in uniform drinking, and along with them, her very own tutor.

"And then… Oh… Oh bloody HELL this is good!" he laughed, looking up at the clear liquid in the Mason jar. "You… You make this?! What do you call this!?"

"One step up from floor cleaner, mate! Bloody… You can really pack it away! Come on now, save some for the fish!" one of the soldiers laughed and nudged him; he fell right off of the crate he'd been sitting on, and laughed.

"What did you give him?!" Eliza barked at the soldiers in such a tone that the men were stunned, and finally one broke into a laugh, and passed her the unmarked jar. She sniffed it, and nearly gagged with disgust.

"Elijah… Come on… We'll get you out of here," she sighed, and helped him to stand. "Tommy, I'm sorry, but we've got to go. He's had too much, and he's never drank before, I don't think!"

"My name… Is not Elijah… It's Fujuju… I'm a… Sergeant Major with the Keron Army!" he snapped in a slurred tone. "I'm over ten million years old… And this is the best I've felt in ANY of them!"

"He's a loon is what he is," Thomas muttered as they walked out, Fujuju leaning on Eliza.

"These human bodies are so… So awkward!" he snorted with laughter. "And you… You think I'd look a little better… Ohhhhhh hell, I'll just switch back!" he went to reach for the crest on the inside of his jacket, but Eliza quickly stopped him, giving him a warning look like a mother would give a child.

"You sure he's your student, you're not his nanny?"

"Well…." she yelped as he went to fall, but she quickly helped him to stand again, and had to practically toss him into the back seat of the car before climbing in herself.

"Next time I want to take you out, make sure not to bring your entourage," Thomas said darkly as he slammed his door and started up the vehicle.

"I hope you're happy with yourself," Eliza sighed as she stood over Fujuju's bed the following morning. He answered with a long groan, and the Keronian slid out of his bed, stumbling across his room. "What am I going to do with you? What were you thinking?"

"That it was odd tasting water and that I was thirsty," he answered, still gripping onto his head. "I need to put on my human suit…"

"I told Father already you were sick in bed with a cold. Thank goodness I was able to change you back myself and carry you up. It's dangerous for you to look like this, though. What if Nanny were to come in and see you reading, or talking to me like a person? They already think the little lizard I had died off weeks ago! Why, she'd be terrified at the sight of you!"

"That woman hates me, and stays clear across the house from me at all times," Fujuju muttered, and buried his face in the blankets that had fallen off of the bed. "The lights in here are too… Bright!"

"There are none on, that's the sun," Eliza sighed, and shut the curtains accordingly.

"Don't tell me the power is out yet again…"

"Fine, I'll refrain," she sighed, and helped him back into bed. "Get your rest today. We'll take up more lessons tomorrow; I'll just study for today."

"Bless you, dear girl," Fujuju muttered, and crawled beneath his blankets. "…Is that boy coming by again today?"

"Thomas? Yes, we're trying to get in all the time we can before he goes off into the military," she answered with a smile. "Why, do you want us to invite you along to more?"

"You're not good enough for him," Fujuju muttered, and Eliza was surprised by this.

"And I suppose you think you know someone who is…"

Fujuju pulled back the covers, and chuckled weakly, "I'm not even good to myself, I wouldn't know about you, my dear girl. But I know his type, and… You're too good for it."

"Well, we'll just have differing views on that, won't we?" she tilted her head, and placed the covers over Fujuju once more. "You'll see him in a different light soon enough, don't worry! And he'll look splendid in uniform!" she added with a sigh; Fujuju gave another groan and a grumble.

"…If they were to do scientific testing on him, they'd need to find two more subjects to make half a brain," Fujuju muttered to himself, and he turned onto his side, then flinched—His head was pounding.

"Eliza?" the door to the library, and the young girl looked up quickly—There was her father, suitcase in hand.

"You're home early, Father… What's the matter?"

"Nothing, nothing, my Dear. Just a short day at the office. Going over some of your lessons?" she nodded, and he lifted up the papers, nearly dropping them as he read over the complicated problems. He laughed a little, and shook his head.

"Your tutor wrote these up as some sort of joke, correct? Well, now you've both had you good laugh, and—"

"I wrote those," Eliza answered. "He wrote what was on the back page…"  
Her father choked as he looked at these equations, and his hands began to tremble. He rose, and rushed out of the library without another word.

When he returned, it was colleagues, and all sat in the dining room as Fujuju was led out, in his human disguise and an ice pack over his head.

"M-Mr. Grant, we… We saw your equations…" one professor began slowly, and Fujuju looked upward, still slumped over in his chair and hung over.

"Wha… Oh, those things," he muttered. "Did I get something wrong?"

"No," said another scientist. "It's correct! And that's the thing, we're curious as to HOW you achieved this! We've been going over this problem for years, and you taught it, as if it were mere algebra!"

"Well, it's not that difficult, really," Fujuju muttered. "Why are you speaking to just me? My pupil figured it out, as well… And on her own."

"Well, she…." one of the professors began, and looked at the others, uncertain.

"Professor—The other Professor Grant's daughter—Is too young to understand something of this caliber. It's a wonderful trick you taught her, but—"

Fujuju was incensed by this, and clenched the ice pack a bit, "So you think that just because someone's a bit younger or smaller than you that it's impossible she'd be able to understand this without my help… And you're the people in charge?"

Eliza's father stifled a laugh, which he quickly turned into a disguised cough; the other scientists looked baffled by the lanky redhead.

"Where I came from we worked with women side-by-side," Fujuju continued. "Who in their right mind would look down on someone if they were just as capable, unless they were afraid of something?" he muttered, and stood, pushing in his chair. "Now if you excuse me, I need to leave, before I end up becoming ill on someone's expensive shoes. I'm still a bit drunk, you see. Other times... At other times I'm a much nicer fellow to get along with..."

With that, he left. And the room was silent for a few moments, until all of the teachers and scientists broke out into discussion at once.

"All right, ALL RIGHT!" barked one particularly old professor, and he looked to Eliza's father, "Grant! Figure out what… The other Grant wants, and make sure he gets it!" he stood, and the others did along with him, taking queue from this, "And I don't care if it's the moon, if that's easy math for him, I want the odd bastard before someone else gets to him!"

"Y-Yes, sir," Eliza's father nodded, and waited until all of the scientists left to start laughing and light a cigarette. "The lad plays a good game…"

"So we both start next week—YEOUCH! Bloody hell…" Fujuju grumbled from the other side of the bathroom door while Eliza stood there, listening in the following morning.

"College? At my age?" she wondered aloud, and he opened the door just enough to look out at her. "Do you think I'm bright enough?"

"Yes, more than qualified… That's all right, isn't it?"

"It's… More than I could have dreamed of! But how'd you talk them into that?! My father couldn't even manage that!"

"Apparently I'm brazen when I'm full of alcohol…. Thank goodness it was a bunch of old men in the room and not Rita Hayworth. And what sort of cruelty of nature is this?"

"Hrm? Let me see? Oh—Oh my!" she couldn't help but laugh at the nick marks on his face, and she covered her mouth to hide the mad chuckling. Fujuju started to shut the door again, but she stuck her foot in, and slid into the bathroom. "Let me help you with that before you do anything permanent! You don't want to look like you were in a fight!"

"I feel like it," he muttered. "Really, how do you all put up with this?"

"….I need to find you a wife before I do anything else! Someone's going to have to look after you when I'm not here to!" she said with a laugh as she took a towel and dabbed it on his face. "Poor Elijah."

"…Hrm? What's wrong?" he asked as she stopped for a moment, and her eyes met his.

"Nothing," she shook her head, and continued after pausing, looking away. "I'm just… Still excited for starting college already, is all!"

"Well, I told you you'd be a physicist! And you're the first one I've had to keep any promise to, so I made sure to keep this one!"

*Note: No offense meant to the Swiss . It's a period piece, have mercy.


	3. Chapter 3

This is the halfway point of the story... Not as many groundbreaking events here, but a breath of fresh air's good sometimes, especially when you're working on a self-imposed schedule. This chapter's also shorter, but the next one's longer-The last one, the fifth chapter, is the shortest. I only put this in as some sort of showing the light at the end of the tunnel, heh. And really I wanted a little more development before I put up chapter 4 for you, so... Here's part three! Please enjoy!

PART 3:

"Good morning!" Fujuju grinned happily, and the students all looked up, surprised at the loud noise the books made as they hit the large wooden desk. The noise echoed throughout the walls of the round auditorium, and he found this noise amusing.

He chuckled to himself, and removed his heavy jacket—Then the other heavy jacket he had on beneath this, then the scarf, gloves, and finally hat. He was still wearing a heavy jacket as he began to address the students.

It had close to seven been months since his awakening in a strange time, on a strange planet that was filled with even stranger people. It had been six months since he had been accepted to help at the university where Eliza's father worked at, and four months since the girl had become a student there herself, and already one of the top science and mathematics students on campus.

She wasn't in his class, though, she had already moved on to higher mathematics than the ones he taught.

"Now who here is ready to receive their grades?" he asked, clasping his hands together. The ten students in the room looked up at him darkly, although there was a twinkle of mischievousness in the eyes of two boys in the back.

"While I'm finishing preparing them, I have a film for the rest of you to watch! It's all on the wonders of space! I think you'll find it very, very amusing, as I did," he chuckled even as he opened up the canister and pulled over the projector. One of the students slammed their head down on the desk.

Then he pulled down the white projector screen, and his smile fell. The two boys broke into laughing, and he stood there, pale, and looked out at the class. He shook his head and placed a hand over his face; break couldn't start early enough.

"One strand at a time, this isn't a race!" the maid snapped, and Fujuju sighed, and picked up another piece of tinsel from the white box, and placed it on the bright green tree.

Even inside the house he was still dressed in a heavy sweater, jacket—Everything but gloves, although his hands were freezing in the cold British December. He had somehow managed to land tree decorating duty, but this didn't bother him as what was still on his mind—Mainly his last class of the day. He was dreading the possibility of the ordeal spreading throughout the campus.

While he pondered this Eliza sat, stringing popcorn and occasionally stealing a piece for herself.

"You'll ruin your dinner," the maid chided her; although her back had been turned the entire time, she was still able to somehow know exactly what Eliza was up to.

"So what's this I heard about your class today?" he stopped dead, and his face went red. "They've been talking about it all over campus! Even Father got a good laugh at it…"

"I didn't find it amusing…" he replied. "Placing pinups on the projector screen during the last day of class… Really now…"

"I heard it was hilarious, that you were practically ready to snap the necks of the boys who did it! I can't believe they got you to actually get mad! Oh, Nanny, if you didn't know, a pinup is a—"

"I'm not that old to not know what that is, Eliza dear," the maid replied, and slapped away his hand as he attempted to place two strands on the same branch. She took the box from him and huffed, "Just leave me to this! Really you can't tell me you didn't do anything close to this in Switzerland!"

"Dragging in a tree from the freezing cold and decorating it with household items? I can't say we did," he answered with a shake of the head, and Eliza stood.

"All done, Nanny! We're going to go out for a bit!" Eliza set down the popcorn strand and smiled. "I'll go get my coat!"

"Go? Out there? On purpose?" he choked, but she only walked past him, and hopped up to her room.

The maid, meanwhile, glared at him, "I know people from Switzerland… If you're Swiss, I'm that Hayworth girl you obsess over!"

"If you're Miss Hayworth I'd say the camera is more than a little kind to you."

"Cheeky bastard," the maid muttered. "Don't think I don't see what's going on here. With looks like that, there's only one thing you could be…"  
His chest tightened with panic as she stared at him for a moment, looking him up and down—How could she know!? He was relieved as the word, "Irish" rolled off her lips.

"You… You've got me," he sighed, holding up his hands. "I am one-hundred percent Irish. Not a drop of Swiss blood in me."

"I knew it! I knew it from the moment I saw you! You—"

"All ready!" Eliza ran back down, and handed him his gloves.

"Have a nice time, dearest," the maid smiled sweetly to the girl, then went about decorating the tree. "Don't let him pick on you any, let Nanny know if he even tries anything! She'd like a good excuse to beat some sense into him!"

"Your maid figured out my dark secret… That I'm indeed an Irishman," he said with a laugh as they walked out. "Perhaps we can get a lesson or two in here for you while we're out in this miserable weather… I heard you missed a problem on your physics final."

"It was only one! No lessons on break, I beg of you. You do make them interesting, but I'm only one person!" she laughed. "You're to enjoy yourself during this break, too, that's an order as your tutor!"  
"But I do enjoy myself when I'm teaching…" he answered, and immediately shook as they hit the breeze of cold snowfall. "It's perfect weather to teach about the affects of certain chemicals in the environment, though… It's like one large ice box out here…"

"You really don't take well to cold, even in that form. It never snowed where you were from?" she asked.

"They could control the weather where I came from," he answered. "We didn't have oceans, either. Or deserts, for that matter. We didn't really have seasons like you have…"

"Sounds dreadfully boring! What about rainforests? Did you have any of those?"

"Well, no, but we had other sorts of forests…" he answered. "But the leaves never changed color. And we didn't have swing dancing. But perhaps that's a good thing, given my failure in anything relating to that particular subject."

"That's terrible!" she gasped, her eyes wide. "I couldn't live in a place like that! Do... Do you ever think about going back to it?"

"Oh, I'm sure it'd be even more confusing than this place… At this point I know more about your planet then my own. If there are still people on there, I certainly wouldn't want to be known as a survivor from that mission… Why, I'd never be left alone!"

"Do you ever wonder if any of your friends survived? On that mission…"

"You're certainly full of questions today! Am I being interviewed?" he remarked as they walked down the icy stretch of white. There were Christmas lights strung liberally in some household windows, but this was about it in the way of decorations. A few trees could be seen already lit in windows, often through white lace curtains.

And then there was a group of schoolchildren huddled around an old metal drum, gathered around it for warmth. Fujuju stopped, staring at the flame, and Eliza did as well, studying his serious expression for a few moments with worry.

"…Certainly would make things warmer around here…" he said in a whisper.

"Yes, but… All of those lovely books would be destroyed, too. And you don't want that, would you? What would Shakespeare think? How about Cervantes? Or Swift! Why, he'd have a fit if you burnt him!" she said quietly, and tugged on his arm. After a few moments, he shook his head, glancing at the flame only once more before continuing on the path with her.

"That was very, very good!" she exclaimed, "By this time next year, you'll be just as normal as anyone else around here! Well, as normal as can be expected. Who knows what they'll ration next year, and how people will take to it."

"…Next year?"

"Yes, well… Next December… Why, what's wrong with that? You don't have plans, do you?"

"No, I just… Haven't thought about how definite this really is until now," he admitted. "It's… Dreadful knowing that…"

"You're going to be stuck with my family."

"…That I'm going to be stuck with this nose!" he answered with a laugh, and she returned this after recovering.

"It's not bad, someone will like it!" she replied, and now they were walking down, closer to the shops and markets. He caught a glimpse of himself in the reflection of one closed shop, and was taken aback for a moment by the person who looked back at him. Was this the person he'd be looking at every day from now on?

"Here we are!" she chirped as they came to a large pond, frozen over and thick and milky with a sheet of ice. The trees were all black and deadened, but everyone surrounding the lake, or on it, paid no heed to this. And he was stunned at what he saw, having never seen ice skating before. "Here's the site of our lesson today!"

"What happened to no lessons?"

"None for me, that is. You've got plenty of work ahead of you!" she smiled, and held up what she had believed to be a purse. In fact, they were ice blades. She sat on the snow and hitched up her skirt enough for her to get to her snow shoes, and then tied the ice skates onto these.

Fujuju also took a seat on the snow, shivering as he did so, and watched as she tied his skates for him. She walked quite easily—He was fine until it came time to go out onto the ice.

"Bend your knees! Bend them, come on now," she laughed and took hold of his hands. "You're doing fine, just fine!"

She held him steady as she floated out onto the ice, him leaning on her arms for balance, "Just… Pretend you're roller skating!"

"Roller what?"

"Dear… Here, I'm going to let you go."

"Nonono—" but she did so, and slowly skated backwards from him, leaving him standing there to balance on his own. He laughed a bit, then went to skate forward—Eliza was too slow to keep him from falling, and they both tumbled onto the hard ice, him on his back and her face-first. Fortunately, she didn't hit her face against the ice, and looked up at the stunned alien.

"I promise this starts to be fun after the first few tries," she puffed as she looked down at him.

"Please allow me to know when it does," he answered.

"And now you'll have a story to tell your alien friends if you ever meet up with them!" she said with a smile as she walked back down the street beside him. It was almost dark out already, and they both trudged back to the house, sore from the falls. "You can tell them that one, and the one about when I attempted to teach you how to drive! That's my favorite one! We spent all day repairing that old henhouse you crashed into!"

"No. They're never to know about this. Or of the henhouse," he muttered, limping down the road. He could see his breath in the air as he walked on beside her, and he did a double take as he noticed she was looking at him. "Is everything all right, dear?"

"Would you go back with them?"

"Pardon?"

"Would you go back… If you found out that everyone on your platoon was still alive, too?"

He stared at her for a few moments, then looked away, to think about this. It was a question of whether or not he wanted to be a human or….

"You're a bright girl," he laughed, and tilted his head. "And brighter than myself, I'll admit. I suppose if that question presents itself, I'll tackle it then."

"Until then you'll just stay part or our family, how does that sound?" she offered. "Hrm? Oh, my, don't tell me I upset you, not this close to Christmas!"

"It's just… The most generous offer I've ever been given. It's a bit shocking, really…" he answered quietly. "Even on Keron, I didn't have that."

"Well, more incentive to stay!" she grinned and giggled. She continued down the street, and even though most of the shops were closed at this point, they were still able to look into the windows. "…Those windows used to be a lot more full… I hope that someday you'll be able to see them like that. There were… Beautiful suits and dresses in this window! And in that one… Well, all sorts of cakes! As soon as this war's over, I'm getting one of those cakes again. I'm going to get one for my wedding, too."

"I suppose it's good to have your goals," he laughed, and she looked a bit offended by his laughter.

"I know you don't like Thomas, but you don't have to laugh at me about it! I wouldn't make fun of your girlfriend if you had one!" she smacked him on the shoulder a lightly and resumed walking.

"Oh, I'm much too bright for that," he answered, and didn't pay attention that Eliza had stopped walking; his attention was gained once again, though, as a snowball hit him on the back of the head. He bent down, lifted up his hat, and brushed off the snow—As soon as he stood, there was another snowball, this one hitting his back.

Eliza looked up at him and smiled, daring him to fight back. He only looked at her, totally puzzled. She sighed, shook her head, and walked over to him—She placed the mound of snow she'd gathered in his hands, and then stood back.

"Now you throw it at me," she said, straightening her dress and tilting her hat to prepare for it.

"…Why?..." he looked down at the wet, cold object, and back up at her.

"Because it's fun," she answered. "Come on, this is another lesson and you're already failing miserably! Just throw it!"

He did so, but it barely hit her. She groaned, and formed another snowball, and placed it in his hands, and stood back, "If you ever have children someone's going to have to show them how to do this, and I have a feeling it's going to be me who's going to have to come and show them! Now try harder!"

"Eliza, I—"

"Or I'll tell Nanny you're the one who clipped up her magazine just to get the Rita Hayworth photo!"

The snowball hit her directly in the face. Fujuju's smile fell as she bent over, and he rushed over to make sure she was all right.

"That bloody HURT!" she said through, of all things, laughter.

"Eliza! I… I'm so sorry, I…"

"It's fine, I had that coming!" she giggled, and stood up straight. "I knew it was you who did that! And to think I got the blame for it!"

"I…" he was speechless; she continued smiling, and whistled as she took him by the arm and removed his own hat, putting it on her head.

"Good to know after millions of years confusing women are still in fashion," he said with amusement.

Eliza shut her book and yawned. From the clock it was already late in the night… Or early in the morning. It was past her bedtime, at any rate.

"I have to shut off the lights now, before I'm in trouble," she yawned, and nudged Fujuju, who laid on the edge of the bed, now in his original form but still bundled down with heavy blankets. She crawled over to where he laid out across a heavy book, and saw he had fallen asleep.

"Hmm," she looked down at the story he'd been reading, then over to the sleeping Keronian. She leaned in, and kissed him on the cheek, just for a moment. Needless to say, this woke him up, and he blinked, and looked up at her, his face red.

"Well, I wanted to see if you were a prince or not!" she explained, pointing to the story he'd been reading. He only sighed and shut the book, and sat up, pulling the covers tighter.

"What happened to all of that boyfriend talk? Really you're going to be trouble," he asked.

"Oh, it's not fooling around or anything! There was probably more to any one you got when you were little and in school! You're not a prince, so I don't have anything to worry about," he looked at her, irritated by this comment.

"I'm also a man," he answered. "With feelings, I might add."

"Don't be so sensitive!" she lifted him up and pulled him closer over to the window by her bed. "It's a clear night out—Show me what direction you all came from…"

"All of this sudden fascination… Well… If I can remember the coordinates correctly, it was somewhere, over… There…" he pointed to the top right of the pane. "Who knows, there could be a planet full of people there who look just like me right now as we speak…"

"Not celebrating Christmas or anything," she sighed, and he turned his head to look up at her.

"All right, now, what's with this talk? It's beginning to concern me, child," he asked. "Are you convinced I'm off to somewhere? That'd certainly be news to me!"

"Well, it's just that… I know Tommy's away with his family now, but once he gets back, it won't be soon before he's gone off to fight… And I lost my Mum already, and truthfully today I started wondering about whether or not I'd end up losing you eventually, as well."

"…My dear girl, as of now, I have nowhere else I'd rather be in time or place than right here," he answered. "I'll hold onto this as long as I can."

"Do… Do you think things will change, though?" she was now hugging onto him, and he sighed, and remained quiet. "…Elijah?"

"Of course they will. Things always change," he patted her on the hand to console the worried girl. "But you needn't worry, the important thing now is to just enjoy the time we do have. Nothing lasts forever… That's the beauty of things, wouldn't you agree? The ending of a story may be the saddest part, but… It's the ride that's the most enjoyable, not the destination, correct?"

"You're not allowed to leave, I won't allow it. Enough has changed on me already," she muttered, and clutched onto him tighter. "I'll chase you down, if I need be."

"Don't you think Thomas will be jealous? He doesn't very well seem to like me…"

"Oh, give it time! You'll both be the best of friends, I'm sure of it!" she yawned, and as a result, didn't hear the snort of skepticism he gave.  
She laid back on the bed, and he grunted and he fell back, still in her arms, "…What is it you want most for Christmas?"

"…For the world to start making sense," he answered. "And what is it you'd like, Eliza?"

"…It doesn't matter now, does it? I know you got me a copy of one of Freud's books…"

"I'm that predictable?"

"No, I peeked," she laughed and shut her eyes.

"Just as I did…."

"Elijah, you didn't!" she gasped, opened her eyes and looked down at him.

"…No, but now that you admitted you did, I must say I'm disappointed…"

"Oh you're impossible!" she sighed and turned her back to him. He sighed and wriggled out of the blankets, and clicked on the symbol on his hat—He was then back to his human form.

Picked up his book, and made it to the door before turning around to where she laid, "You never said what you wanted the most."

"Oh… To be able to make up my mind," she answered, her back still facing him.

He was puzzled by this statement, but instead of pursuing it any further he opened the door to the bedroom and walked out into the hall.

He walked into his room, tossed aside his book, and walked over to the dresser mirror, leaning against the top of the old wooden furnishing, "Tell me you could get used to waking up to see me everyday. It… It's just a few changes, correct? You're still the same person, just… A completely different look and name. Other than that you're the same."

He gave a confident-looking smile, but… He was still unsure. He took a seat on his bed and stared up at the mirror again; a human—forever.

Meanwhile, he was unaware that there was someone out front of his door. Eliza adjusted her hair, raised a hand to knock on the door, then shut her eyes tightly, and slowly lowered it, "…I just wanted to say that… No, no… I—Well, I—"

"Eliza?" she jumped and turned her head toward the sound of her voice—Her father, in a smoking jacket and his pajamas, standing in the hall.

"F-Father? What're you doing awake, and at this hour?"

"Simply getting a glass of water… Did you need to both Mr. Grant for something?"

"No," she shook her head, and backed away from the door quickly. "I simply… Remembered that he borrowed a book of mine!"

"And you're asking him for it this late?"

"I didn't want to forget. It's one of my favorites," she answered swiftly, her hands now in front of her and her eyes traveling between the door and her father.

"….Trouble him for it in the morning. In the meantime allow the poor boy his sleep. Really with how you bother him… You're lucky he entertains it all!"

"I know," she nodded quickly. "I'll be right off to bed, Father."

"See that you are. And I think you forgot to take off your makeup," it was clear after a few moments of silence he would be the one to watch her leave. She did so, and quickly, disappearing into her room with a panicked and embarrassed slam of the door.

Her father looked at Fujuju's door a moment, then Eliza's. He gave a small groan and shook his head as he walked back to his own bedroom, "As if things weren't becoming more and more difficult already…"


	4. Chapter 4

Yeah, so, I mentioned this chapter being the longest... Now it's not anymore, but it did involve breaking it up into two separate chapters. I PROMISE that it won't exceed six chapters. You have my word as a near-Girl Scout.

That just happens with me sometimes because when I write a story like this, it's only as one long story, I chop it up for chapters later. By the time I went to divide this, I felt that there was too much content in this chapter to have it as just one standalone chapter. So, I divided it up... I'm sorry for the inconvenience T.T It looks a lot better now, trust me. I do hope that everyone enjoys it... I'm going to knock on wood and say that this story should be finished up in two days, so you can either read the chapters as they come out, or save them up... Think of it as a "fanfic miniseries" XD

PART 4:

"Professor Grant!" a student called out, and Fujuju looked up, suddenly pulled from his conversation, just in time for the flash of the camera. He grunted and rubbed his eyes, and Eliza only laughed at this exchange.

"I'm going to get that camera out of his hands yet," Fujuju muttered. "That's the third time this week he's done it! He's trying to blind me; I'm about sure of it… It's for the "D" I gave him last semester."

"Well, he's just doing his job, ease up on him… Professor," Eliza chuckled and nudged him. "So you're coming tonight?"

"To…?" he tilted his head, and she shook her head and laughed. His smile grew, and he stood, his hands in his pockets, watching as other students passed them.

"Well, it's not every day a girl celebrates her graduation!" she smiled, and Fujuju nodded.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world, my dear. Now hurry on, you have things to do yet, don't you?" she nodded, and was off, leaving him to walk down the corridor of the college by himself, his destination the library.

The New Year had come and gone, followed by another, and then one more. Thomas had gone into the military, joining with the army, and Eliza had gone from being seventeen to being on the verge of twenty. Her long brown hair was gone now, exchanged for a curled bob that many of the other women at the college wore. She had also begun to dye it a few shades bolder, and with the addition of makeup, it was clear she was nearly grown.

Fujuju hadn't changed much, at least in his mind. In reality, he spent less and less time as a Keronian, and more time in the world of humans, until it got to a point where he could not remember the last time he'd seen himself in his natural form. He'd grown used to humans, taking up smoking, joking around with the other teachers, although he put himself at a distance from them. This was just his personality, though.

He still taught Eliza, but was often also the one to accompany her to movies, something he enjoyed doing. Going to one large screen instead of having them in a household was primitive to him, but he was adjusting. It was only during the science fiction shorts, where he laughed as though it were a comedy, that he was any sort of annoyance to her. They had been kicked out of more than one theater because of this.

He was liked by the students, as well. He was one of their favorite teachers to pull pranks on, but always well-meaning one. He had the power to decide their grades, and this was kept the pranks light.  
And the world was changing. The mood on any given day ranged from sense of general tension to full-blown panic. It was June of 1942; the Americans were in the war now. Cars were looking shabbier, more and more women and fewer men were seen as students on campus, and anything from food to clothing was rationed out with tickets.

"Grant!" one of the other professors, one of the older men who had hired him on in the first place, caught him in the hallway in the midst of his walk. "There you are! We need to you take care of some things…"

"Certainly," Fujuju nodded, and was surprised as a folder was shoved in his hand.

"This is off the books. Don't let anyone else see it," the professor said to him sternly. "If you do it'll be a crime of the highest degree."

"Y-Yes, sir, I understand," he nodded, and shoved it in between some of his other folders; this wasn't the first exchange like this, a few times he'd gotten requests like this, mainly in the form of long algorithms. He'd give it back to his supervisor, and not another word would be said about it again.

He forego'ed the library to head home, to work on this assignment. He was puzzled at the sight of a small woman standing out front, also with a head of striking red hair, but with large golden eyes. She wore a straw hat and blue dress, and smiled and waved at him as he walked up.

"Sergeant Major Fujuju! You look well!" his heart nearly stopped at being called this. It'd been so long, and the fact someone knew….

"It's me, don't you recog—Oh, you wouldn't, would you? I barely recognize you!" she laughed. "You look like a full-blooded Pekoponian!"

"Who… Who are you, dear lady?"

"Oh, golly! You even sound like a Pekoponian!" she blinked, noting the strong British accent he'd taken on. "Don't you recognize the voice!? It's me, Private Kodada!"

"Ko-Kodada?" he yelped, and she smiled widely.

"I hope I didn't disrupt you in your life!" she smiled, "But I've already been to visit Corporal Lupapa, and I managed to trace you back to here! It wasn't easy getting from Brazil to here, but I managed it!"

"You're traveling, at a time like this?" he muttered, stunned.

"I know, with all of the regulations, especially regarding Pekopon…"

"Pekopon?"

"Sure, that's the official name of it now! Cute, isn't it?" she wrinkled her nose and giggled. "I know I can get in trouble even being on this planet, but… It's a risk worth taking!"

"Risk?"

"Sure," she nodded, looking at him as though he were insane. "No alien's allowed to be on her e unless they go through piles and piles of paperwork! You could be arrested if not, or if you're found helping out in this War! They decided that about a year ago, when they heard some sides were trying to research our technology…. You… Didn't know?"

"What?" his eyes went wide at this, and he felt panicked, and gripped the folders tighter to his chest.

"You're not following what's going on?" she blinked and shook her head. "Not… Not at all?"

"I… I haven't quite been able to… But it's such a relief to see you! How's everyone else fairing?"

"I was actually going to ask you that…" she answered, a little embarrassed. "I… I wanted to know if you'd seen Romama… Or my sister…"

"No, not at all… I… I was convinced that I was the only one who had survived until a few moments ago…."

"I see…" her smile fell, and she nodded. "It's dangerous for more than one of us to be anywhere at a certain time or place, so the sooner I leave, the better... But if you need me, Sergeant Major, here's a good address to find write me at! I… I hope you're doing well."

"As well as one can at a time like this," he answered, and she smiled, knowing this as she passed him a slip of paper. "I… There's always a place for you here if you need it, Kodada."

"I know," she replied, then took off down the street, where there was a taxi parked. He watched her drive off, and could swear he stopped breathing until another cab came down the street, stopping in front of their home.

"Oh, who now… If it's Rokiki…." he started. "….Bloody... It's worse."  
Thomas greeted him with a wide smile; Fujuju forced his own.

"Old man! Ha ha! Fancy seeing you here! I didn't think you were one for sunlight!"

"Thomas… How wonderful of you to show."

"Ah, that's Sergeant Kingston, to you, civilian!"

Fujuju smiled inwardly; he still ranked higher than the brat.

"So where's Eliza at, eh? Where's Lizzy?"

"Lizzy?" Fujuju had to take a moment to recover from the nickname. "She's getting ready for tonight… It's her graduation party…"

"So I heard! Lucky for me I was able to come by and make the day a little more special for her. Here, I'll show ya!" he pulled out a small box from a pocket in his slacks, and Fujuju felt ill at the sight of the ring. "Not much, but I'll do better for her after all of this mess!"

"Marry her? She's still too young yet!"

"What're you goin' on about, she's fine! Or is there some other reason you're so anxious?" asked Thomas, an eyebrow raised.

"What? No, not at all. We aren't like that… But… She has a good career ahead of her!"

"And now she'll have a good life, too!" Thomas replied. "Say… It's been a while… Why don't we talk some more out in the back, what do you say?"  
Fujuju's eyes widened at this, and he watched as Thomas balled one of his fists; the soldier was close to punching him when suddenly he was disrupted by a squeal; Eliza had come home and wasted no time practically tackling Thomas.

"You're home!" she hugged him tightly, and then broke away from him, to get a better look at him. Fujuju took a few steps away from the happy couple. "You look taller!"

"What… What did you do to your hair?"

"Do you like it? Just like in the movies!"

"I love it!" he answered with a laugh. "Maybe a little bit longer, but it's not bad at all!"

Eliza looked back over her shoulder to Fujuju, then to Thomas, "Were you two catching up?"

"Something like that," Thomas answered. "I'm glad I didn't miss the party! And I've got a great gift for it…"

"Really? Show me! Please?"

"Later. Come on now, let's catch up…" he draped an arm around her, and his eyes met with Fujuju's for a moment as they passed.

"….Idiot," Fujuju mumbled, then went inside to work on his "homework".

"Highball?" Eliza's father asked, holding out the small glass to Fujuju.

"No, thank you…"

"That wasn't a question, that was an order. You're going to need it if you're going to be sitting through this," her father replied as he, along with Fujuju, watched the happy couple from across the room. There was a small cake on the table, and sparse decorations, and a few gifts wrapped. Thomas kissed Eliza on the cheek and laughed, and Fujuju downed the liquid, and went straight ahead to join the party.

"Nanny, thank you! It's beautiful!" Eliza gasped as she unwrapped the newspaper-wrapped gift from the maid. A mirror and brush set, set in off-white painted wood with small flower designs. The maid smiled proudly, and Eliza then picked up the next gift, from her tutor.

"The Grapes of Wrath," she read aloud as she peeled back the paper and read the book title.

"Steinbeck, an American. Hasn't really had a hit yet, but this is one everyone's been talking about," Fujuju replied.

"Get all the reading you can in, you'll be too busy chasing little ones around after this blasted war's over," Thomas said with a confident smile. Something happened to Eliza's expression—It was a smile, but it looked forced and worried. She looked up and ahead a moment at Fujuju for a moment, then back down at the book.

This didn't escape Thomas, "Ah, got to get my gift! I'll be right back! Ehhh, you, tutor—You mind showing me where the washroom is upstairs, would ya? I want to look nice for this."

"Hrm? Of course," Fujuju nodded, standing and walking behind Thomas up the stairs, just in case he tried to get him from behind. Thomas didn't need to be behind the tutor to attack him.

The boy wasted no time turning around and punching the Keronian in disguise in the gut as soon as they were out of sight, disabling him from making any sort of noise and attacking back. He opened Fujuju's bedroom door, and pushed him through onto the wooden floor, shutting the door behind them, as so they could remain unseen by the rest of the party.

"Now where were we…" he asked thoughtfully, and looked toward the shelf, lifting up a heavy book, "This is a good one… And… Don't take it personally, I'm just getting very tired of this turning into a relationship with three people in it…. I don't like how she's been looking at you, honestly. Not sure if you've seen it, and if you haven't, then this is a damn shame you're having to go through this, ain't it?"

He swung to deliver a blow with the book to the back of the scientist's head, but Fujuju was able to dodge this; Thomas gripped him by the neck just as he reached for the door, though, and inadvertently pressed the "E"-shaped crest at the same time. Thomas was stunned at the flashing light, and shaking as the redhead whose neck he had held before was now the same "lizard" he had held by the neck years before.

"What… What the hell?" Thomas dropped the Keronian and backed away from him, while Fujuju attempted to regain his breath. "You?! You're really that… Thing?!"

"Thomas? I heard something fall," Eliza swung open the door, and quickly shut it again behind her as she saw Fujuju in his true state. Thomas only gave a laugh, of disbelief, as well as the beginnings of hysteria. "What… What's going on here? What did you do to him?!"

"Really? So this is how it really is? You… You're sick, Eliza. I… I don't know what the hell is going on, but… But you're sick!" he laughed, and she bent down and scooped up the injured Keronian. "And don't you worry, everyone's gonna know about it! I hope you and your little… Lizard… Thing! Are happy! Haha… Hahaha!" he backed out of the room, leaving them together.

"Did he hurt you?" she asked quietly, sitting down on the floor with him on her lap.

"He never met my old employer," Fujuju muttered. "I could have taken him…"

"I know," she smiled gently, and gasped as she heard more footsteps coming up the stairway. "Quick, change back!"

He went to touch the crest, but cursed to himself, "He cracked the blasted thing…"

"What? Can… Can you repair it?"

"Yes, but… I'll need some time. Just a few moments," he answered in a whisper. "It's just a loose wire or two..."

"Don't worry, I've got it," she set him down on the ground, and rushed out of the bedroom; Fujuju could hear her break down into hysteric sobs in the hallway. "Father, he dumped me! And he called me as plain-looking as Judy Garland! Do you believe that?!"

"….That makes me wonder about every time she cried to get her way with me…" Fujuju muttered, taking a seat on the floor to repair the small device but grunting at the pain in his ribs. "What did that fool mean about "looking at me"? She's the same as always…"

"Do you need anything for it?" she hurriedly shut the door behind herself, and wiped her eyes clean of the fake tears.

He looked upward at her to see if he saw any look, but as far as he saw, nothing… At this point he'd fixed the symbol, and placed it back on his hat, pressing it and changing back into his Pekoponian form.

"…Are you all right? Are you sure he didn't he hurt you? Everyone heard a thud…"

"I'm fine, my dear," he answered with nod, although in the course of this he flinched from the pain again.

"You're an awful liar…" she walked into his bathroom and came out with a pack of bandages, and sat down on the floor behind him.

"I assure you I'm—" the rest was cut off by a yell as she felt the area around his ribs, and he quickly covered his mouth.

"They may be just bruised…" she sighed, and pulled out white bandages, "I'll wrap it, you'll be fine until you go to a doctor."

"I'm not exactly sure you—"

"Oh, it's nothing I haven't seen before I even met you," she sighed, and immediately looked up, her eyes wide with as she realized what she'd said. He was just as stunned by this, and she immediately began to stutter a followup, "…D-Don't tell my father that."

"Are you joking? I'm going to forget I even heard it," he muttered and went to unbuttoning his shirt, which had a bit of blood on it from his face-first fall onto the floor.

"Thank you," she sighed gratefully, and began to wrap the bandages about his ribs. "…What am I going to do with you?"

"I'll be fine, don't you worry about me. I've fared just fine on my own! I am, however… Very sorry about your sudden… Change in relationship with that boy. I know how you care for him."

"No you're not," she said with a giggle. "You're relieved, aren't you? And really, I am, too…"

"What's that?" he turned around, and he groaned at the sharp pain that resulted in this.

"Well, I… I suppose I finally was able to see that he's not one to appreciate me for what I want to be appreciated for…" she said in such a tone that Fujuju's blood chilled a bit, and he stopped wiping the blood from his mouth with his shirt for a moment. He bolted up from the floor just as soon as Eliza's father started knocking on the door. "Bloody—Father will kill me if he sees me in here with you, in either form!"

"Hold on, I… I need a few moments!" he shouted out, and Eliza looked a bit panicked, and looked about for a place to hide. She opened the window and looked out, and before Fujuju could hobble to the window she was already out, climbing down the grating that thick ivy grew on.

"…She's going to be the death of me," he whispered as she jumped off and then rushed to the back door of the home. "I… I need to be careful with this. Just in case he is right for once… I'm intelligent. I've got the good sense to know if I'm getting in over my head."


	5. Chapter 5

Ah, next-to-last part now... Part six will be up tomorrow ^_^ I really hope you enjoy this, though, and thanks so much for reading!

PART 5

"I wish you'd gotten a punch in for me, at least. Right in that glass jaw of his," Eliza's father sat there in the bedroom, another drink in his hands. Fujuju sat on the bed, his ribs freshly bandaged and a tissue on the small cut on his face. "I never liked that fool… Eliza, though…"

"I think she'll be fine, sir," Fujuju said with a confident nod. "Just fine…"

"I know. It's us I'm worried about now," he pulled out the folder from the pile; the one marked top secret, and shook his head. "They've been giving you these as well? For the past year or so?"

"Y-Yes, was I not supposed to—"

"You have no idea what it's for," he tossed it back down on the floor and laughed a bit. "I didn't either, until recently. Shows how the more education you have, the less common sense you exhibit at any given time. It's for weapons. Horrifying ones…. I'm quite ready to end this war, just as everyone else is, but not at the cost of so many lives. I'd tell you, but I want you to be able to live with yourself at the end of the day. Lad, don't you see they've been using us both?"

Fujuju was quiet for a long, long time… The things Kodada had come and told him…. Helping out in the war… And getting arrested for it…

"What… What are we going to do?" Fujuju asked quietly, his eyes not leaving the floor.

"It's too late for me. They've got me good, especially since I know what they're doing now. You, though… You have some time ahead of you, you're not that old," Fujuju flinched inwardly at this. "And things are getting bad here… The bombings are getting worse, and you know it. I need my Eliza out. You're both better off this blasted continent… There's still a trickle of people fleeing to the States, you may be safer there. A lot of intellectuals like ourselves have done just fine over there. You're the one person I'd trust to take care of her over there, Grant."

"Me?! But… How would we do that?"

"I have one idea, but… You're going to have more of your sense of humor intact to entertain it…" he answered, and finished his drink. "And decide exactly how much you care for this girl."

Fujuju was puzzled by the darkened expression the man had on his face, and he knew that it wasn't just the sucker punch that had him suddenly feeling ill.

"I do," Eliza nodded through the thick veil that had once belonged to her mother. She smiled anxiously up at Fujuju, and he only looked ahead, numb, not quite believing where he was or what he was doing, feeling the borrowed tuxedo choke him by the neck. He missed his more relaxing clothes…. He missed the comfort of Eliza's home. But it was all changing, rapidly…. They'd only be at that home for one more night.

"I… I do…" he muttered when his time came for him to say his line. The priest nodded, and Eliza Grant was Mrs. Eliza Grant. Fujuju was close to fainting, and stumbled back a bit, catching himself only at the last minute.

"Let's have a hand for the happy couple!" her father clapped, and the other professors he sat with did so, albeit pained as they did so.

"…This is the part where we act like this isn't a ploy," she whispered.

"But it is a ploy," he answered through his teeth. He pulled back the veil slowly, and bent down, awkwardly.

"I know, but… Just close your eyes, like you normally would."

"But I've never even k—"

She placed her hands around his neck, and then kissed him. He hadn't anticipated this… Nothing like this…

He had gotten in over his head.

"…Grant… Is he…" one of the professors whispered to Eliza's father, noting the uncomfortable exchange. Fujuju looked stiff and awkward bent down to the girl's level, and looked like this still when Eliza had parted from him.

"Is he what?" he asked back a little bit too quickly. "…Eh? No, he's nothing like that. Just a shy boy who prefers his books is all. Doesn't like a lot of attention."

"What a dreadful time to get married, much less take a vacation! How long did you say they'd be on honeymoon?" asked another of the scientists, leaning forward to whisper.

"…Hard to say…. But do I hope they'll have a good time…" he replied, looking back at the two and smiling bittersweetly at the sight of the two walking back down the aisle.

"Cake?" Eliza's head turned sharply at the familiar soft voice, and when she looked down she saw a small piece of yellow cake, covered in white frosting, on a small china plate.

She'd taken a seat out in the backyard, her veil on her lap but still in the rest of her wedding attire, while Fujuju had removed the constraining necktie and ill-fitting suit jacket. He took a seat on the iron patio furniture next to her, and smiled. She returned with a weak, forced smirk, and didn't reach out for the cake as it lied on the table beside her.

"So… Is this your first marriage?" she asked quietly.

"Well, to put things in better perspective, that was my first kiss, if you don't count the one I received a year or two ago from you," he answered, taking a bite of the cake and shrugging this off while she looked baffled at him. "Scientists weren't ever expected to get married, so you can imagine my surprise at this predicament."

"Are you serious? Then why did you—"

"Because you're a friend in need," he answered, and set down the plate. "And… You've gone out of your way for me more than once. Now try at least a bite, your nanny went to an awful lot of work to make this and make sure only I got the pieces with any eggshell in it."

Eliza laughed, but only a little, and took a small bite to humor him, "I suppose this is going to be learning for us both from now on…"

"Not to worry, child, we'll fare just fine."

"Please, don't call me child," she said quietly, her eyes falling down to the veil on her lap.

"…Yes, certainly. That would look strange indeed now," he blinked. "…Either way, we shouldn't worry about this. We'll come back here after the blasted war's over and it's safe."

"Do… Do you really think it'll end soon?"

"Well, I know I haven't been with this race long, and despite a few differences, we're really quite the same. And if you lot are anything like Keronians, this'll be over soon," he said to her in a comforting tone.

"…I'm going to retire for the night. We've got an early day tomorrow," she rose from her seat, taking in the veil and bundling it up to keep it from getting on the ground.

"Good thinking," he nodded, and stood as well, taking up both plates along with him. Eliza turned around and took a step towards him and stood up on her tiptoes to kiss him goodnight.

"That's better!" she said with a giggle. "You just have to relax a bit more, just like that!"

"…Eliza…" he spoke quietly, and directly to her. "I you have my word I won't call you child, but… Please don't do that. Never with someone unless you mean it."

"Oh? Oh… I see… I… I'm sorry," she nodded, and quickly turned and rushed away from him.

He watched this in silence, then only exhaled lightly and walked back into the house, both of the plates in hand.

"...As if I weren't confused enough already..." he said quietly to himself.

"This ought to be everything you need," her father stood out on the dock, and handed his daughter a thick envelope. She took it and gasped as she opened it, and stared at the fresh U.S. bills.

"F-Father, you couldn't! That's too much!" she sputtered, and attempted to give it back to him, but he only shook his head.

"Mr. Grant, take good care of her," he said warningly. Fujuju only nodded numbly in response; he hadn't said much since the day before, in the garden, nor had he afterward, when he quietly retired to his room. But now he, Eliza's father, the family maid—and his wife—stood out just before daybreak, in front of a large passenger ship.

"…If I find out you so much as made her cry, I'll cross that ocean, just to get to your hide! And if I'm dead by then, I'll haunt you!" snapped the maid.

Eliza exchanged a hug with first her father, then her nanny, and only broke down into tears when they had boarded the ship.

Fujuju unsurely placed a hand on her shoulder, but this only made her cry harder. She buried her face in his chest, and he flinched, then unsurely embraced her. Just what had he gotten himself into? Suddenly he missed the constant neglect from his scientist peers in his previous life—He longed for it, for just a moment, so he wouldn't have to see this girl cry any more.

The following morning, there was still nothing but ocean… And it was like this for the next few days… It was only after several landless days full of nothing but blue around them that he looked out and saw land. More primitive transportation, he noted as he looked out at the city in front of them.

"We'll both be the aliens here," he was surprised as Eliza stood beside him; he hadn't heard her approach. She looked tired from the travel...

"Don't worry about that, my Dear. It's… Good to think of this as just another chapter. Like in a book," he said in as comforting a tone as possible. "Just think; all sorts of museums, schools… The sky's the limit for us here!"

"It's cluttered," she muttered as she looked out at the city they were quickly approaching.

"Well, we'll just do the best we can here, right? Get us both on our feet…" he looked out at the large statue, a bit puzzled. "…Now, I have a question for you. Did that woman win some sort of fight, or was that their first queen?"

Eliza only laughed at this, wiping her eyes, while he looked genuinely puzzled.

"Hello! Father!" it was a few months into the stay in New York City—The small apartment was a world away from the large home she had known, but Eliza was slowly adjusting to the loud neighbors, loud traffic, and constant bustle of the city. "You… Your connection's dreadful, but I can hear you! Hrm? No, no, no job yet, but Elijah's gotten one! He does tutoring on the side, but he has other…. Well, he keeps busy, let's say that!"

"Ah, Mrs. Parker's cake is ready!" Fujuju exclaimed happily, holding out his hands to present the cake. "And look! Three extra eggs from those stamps she gave us! That means omelets for us tomorrow, my dear girl!"

"All right… Father, you're breaking up. Say hello to Nanny for me!" she shouted through the phone, and then hung up, and walked over to the small kitchen. "Ohhh it looks delicious! I could eat it by myself, the entire thing!" she gasped in awe as she looked at the white frosted confection.

"Well, if we save up a bit more flour, we may very well have enough to make one next week!" he said to her happily as he opened the cupboard and looked at the contents. He glanced over at Eliza in surprise as he felt a hand on his shoulder; she'd been doing peculiar things like that more and more often. He quickly moved away from her, and carefully placed the cake on a glass serving tray without another word.

He was glad for the sudden distraction—Long, off key singing echoing down the alleyway—Both looked down and saw a familiar character stumbling down the alley, singing to himself.

"Danny boy!" he slurred out, have singing, half shouting, "The pipes, the pipes are… Are…?"

"Calling!" Eliza shouted out the opened window. "They're calling!"

"From glen to glen!" Fujuju called out. The old, ruddy-faced man looked up at them both and tipped his hat to them. He resumed his stumbling down the alley as well as his drunken serenading, while Eliza laughed while closing the window.

"Artie's gotten better—He goes for a further time without falling down! So what's it tonight?" she asked brightly. "You're off, I've no job yet… I know! Let's go to a film tonight! They're re-showing the Wizard of Oz! We haven't seen that one, and I heard it was fantastic!"

"If that's what you want, then that's what it shall be!" he exclaimed, and lifted up the cake. After making their delivery, they were off to the theater.

They walked inside, and first watched the newsreel… More war stories, more photos from war. Somehow this war seemed worse than anything Fujuju had seen on Keron… Probably because he didn't spend the film obsessing about which machines he saw were probably the result of technology he'd unwittingly helped to supply.

There was a cartoon next, although much attention wasn't paid to this—he was still too sick-feeling from watching the war news. He was already feeling that entertaining the girl's idea had been a mistake. Then the feature film came onto the screen.

Someone who'd wanted to get away from home. He'd remembered wishing for this himself. Even though the place they had traveled to was bizarre, foreign, and she ended up far away from any home and anything familiar she knew. In the end she wanted back to her home and back to her boring life, where she fit in, where she knew everyone, and it only took a click of her heels.

"Don't you sometimes wish it was that easy to go back to everything being that simple?" Eliza whispered in the dark theater.

"There have been times, yes," he admitted, not sure what exactly to say other than this, "Do you?"

"All of the time," she admitted.

In the end of the film, Dorothy was able to go home. The misplaced British woman and misplaced alien, however, only walked back out onto the New York City streets. It was dark now, and cool out. Fujuju removed his jacket, and placed it over Eliza's shoulders. He found he was slowly acclimating to the cold that would surround them for months at a time.

She looked up at him and smiled weakly, but quickly looked ahead once more, and the smile faded. Her face was concentrated, her look that of someone who was wanting to say something but only practicing it over and over in her mind.

"Are you feeling all right?" he asked her, and she nodded quietly. When they entered the apartment again, she passed him the jacket and sat down, and took up her knitting without another word. "…I'll make us something good for dinner, and put on the radio. How's that for you, child?"

"I'm not a child," she answered in a snap, in a tone that took him aback.

"My apologies… Then how's that for you, young lady?" he corrected himself, blinking in astonishment at the sharp voice.

"I'm fine," she replied, and took up her knitting once more. He was more than bewildered as to this sudden change in attitude, and he walked over, and quietly turned on the record player.

"Now, you can't be sad with this," he smiled and took a seat on the couch beside her. "It's your favorite, that song about the cherries… And we saw an excellent film, so tell me what's the problem now. We've never kept things from one another."

"…Do you think we could dance?" she stopped from her knitting and looked up at him, and he nodded and stood.

"It's been some time, and I'm not much better… I promise not to step on your toes as much," he laughed a bit as he took her hand and walked over to a cleared out part of the living room.

"…Have you ever wanted something you knew in a million years you'd never get, no matter how hard you tried or wished for it?" she asked as they started to dance.

"Better-looking. In either species," he answered quickly with a smile, although she remained serious. "Come now, you'll find a job yet! It's just a rough time everywhere is all! Things will look up for us if we only allow a little more time."

"It's… It's not that," she said quietly as they continued. "I'm… I'm in love with somebody…" she said as he spun her around.

"That good-looking boy at the market," he nodded. "Understandable. He looks like… Who's that one fellow, the blonde actor in those serials… I think he's the one who plays Buck Rogers. You'll look nice together! You'll have to remember to take off that wedding band, though; you wouldn't want people to talk! He seems like a nice boy, although I'd still like to meet him."

"It's not him," she replied, and he spun her about once more; but the time she'd made a full turn his look had gone from calm to questioning. "You, you really don't get it, do you? Even with all of the hints, you don't understand?"

"Understand what? Dear, you're speaking in non—" and after nearly four years, Eliza finally shut him up. The kiss stunned him, and after he realized what was going on, he pushed away from her, stunned, and his face bright red. She stood there, surprised at how quickly he'd bolted from her, like he'd placed his hand on a hot burner.

"Eliza, I…" he looked up at her; the record clicked to a stop at the same moment he saw the tears start in her eyes, and her own face flush, presumably at his quick jumping away from her. "I told you never to do that unless—"

"I meant it," she nodded. "I... I know..."

"You mean? I... I… Well… Y-You… You're a wonderful friend, but… This was all just to help a friend. You only think you're in love, and… I'm very flattered, but I can't return it… It would be nothing but complications and trouble for us both. This… This is just from the moving, this is just stress speaking to you…"

"I… I'm sorry, but… I'm sure of how I feel. Why are you so convinced that I'm wrong about this when you've been telling me for years to trust myself?" she sputtered, her voice picking up momentum as she continued. "It's not something I decided on a whim- I've been agonizing over this for years now! It hasn't exactly been easy being around you when you still think I'm a child! In case you hadn't noticed… I grew up. You've just been bloody blind to it."

"I noticed, but…You don't even remember what I really am, I don't think. I'm starting to think I'm forgetting, as well," he muttered, and sat on the couch. He touched the crest, and transformed back, out of his human body and into the original one. "This is me, Eliza. Not some Pekoponian. Elijah Grant's just an alias. I think… We've both forgotten that along the way."

"Some what? What… What are you talking about?"

"It's… What other aliens call people on your planet… It's a way to distance ourselves, I think. Something I would have done had I been wiser… Even playing with fire was less dangerous than this. I should've just said no a long, long while ago," he looked down at the floor and clenched the couch's fabric with his hands. She bent down and sat in front of him on the floor.

"You're still the same person, no matter what you look like, or what your name is; you should realize that more than anyone. That it doesn't matter what a person looks like, it's more about what kind of a person they are… What kind of a person you are," she said with a hopeful smile. "I…I don't mind that I'm married to you, in fact I like it… But eventually, if you'd like I thought it'd be nice if it weren't just something that was for appearance, only. I don't want to lose anything else, I've lost too much that I valued already. I don't want to lose you as well. I… I want a family, eventually… Not in any foreseeable future, but… Someday, possibly! If… If you're all right with that!"

These last words especially floored him; it was increasingly apparent that this wasn't just a little bit of thought—That she'd been holding this in for some time. And she was absolutely right, he'd been blind to all of it. Her expression at this point was softened, she was coming down from all of the bottled up frustration, and he was placed a little more at ease with this, "Eliza, I…"

"You just seem to really like children, so I thought that'd be reassuring…" she said, her face totally flushed at this point. "I hope that's… Not too out of line! I know it is, but—"

"Lord," he placed a hand on his head as he felt a sharp pain, the beginnings of a migraine, "… You… Your career, though… Being a great physicist! You can't tell me you're giving that up!"

"And why couldn't I be more than that?" she asked. "Humans are more than one thing to any given person, I'm sure the same thing was true with the people on your planet! I could just… Put it on the back burner, if need presents itself. You… You're my dearest friend, and the only person who's ever believed in me…"

"That's what I'm going to have to be content to be," he placed a hand over hers and looked at her regretfully. "I'm very sorry, Eliza. Especially to shut you down in this manner. But this is nothing more than it is now… And I doubt it will be able to be anything more. You don't want this; you've just convinced yourself it's the best way to keep me. And I've told you before that I'll go anywhere you do. But that… That wouldn't be good, not for either of us."

"Who are you do judge what's good for me? …Are you just afraid for me? How… How do you feel about me? You say that you can't love me… But do you already?" she asked him, and he said nothing to this, but hopped off of the couch, and opened the window, walking out onto the fire escape.

He looked haunted, as if something had just dawned on him.

"I need to think things over for a bit… Eliza… I am so sorry," he said to her, and then shut the window behind himself. "…This is just bloody tickety-boo…" he muttered, and took a seat on the black grating, and looked out at the city that surrounded him, and then up at the sky.

He couldn't see any stars.


	6. Chapter 6

Okay, here we go—Final part! Thanks so much for hanging in there and reading all of this, it really has meant a lot. This really was a big, big decision for me to post this—I almost didn't! But thanks to a small push in the right direction from a friend, it gave me the courage I needed to post this. And here it is, the last part… I know if you've been reading this you're probably wanting me to finish this and get on with the story already, so here we are—I'll see you all after *waves*

PART 6:

"And then what?!" Maggie's eyes were wide at this point, as were Oliver's. Botan remained in the doorway of the kitchen. Fujuju looked down into his cup of tea, and sighed. His head was still aching from where Botan had taken him back to the past, and from the attention he'd been receiving from Maggie and Oliver as they sat at the kitchen table, transfixed by the story he'd been telling them for the past few hours over tea.

"I was spotted right away by space authorities, picked up, and sent to a foreign planet for holding for the next twenty years, where I was able to catch on my reading, develop my cooking, and make many, many license plates. My sentence for helping out the Pekoponians like I had and marrying one—It was still illegal during that time. The stress from it only agitated my condition, and by the end I couldn't even see a box of matches without being tempted by them…. I suppose the good news was that I was eventually pardoned for it all," he replied. "I came back immediately after it had finished and the ban had been lifted, but… The world had gone simply mad in those twenty years. Worse than when I left it! The war was over, the children grown, the social climate had changed… And Tommy Dorsey was out of fashion. I couldn't think of a worse world."

"You still waited for her though, eh?" Oliver asked, and Fujuju nodded, and sipped his tea, then set the china cup down on the wooden table.

"She always talked about going back to England once the war was through, but there wasn't even a trace of the house she'd lived it. They'd built a roller rink over it," he answered. "I… Kept my hopes up… Until I slowly became so very disgusted with the whole idea of humanity I stuck to that I found in my books. And that was fine with me…. I'll be the first to admit how horribly wrong I knew I was when I met you children."

"So you were almost a human, for good?" Maggie whispered, and he nodded. "Fujuju… Did you love her?"

"Honestly? Very much so, more than I'd loved anyone before—I just hadn't realized it myself until then. But I had no idea at the time if it was the best thing or not. I was losing myself," he answered. "Sometimes, though… I wonder what the alternative would have been. But that would have meant no meeting you children!"

"Nah, you don't know that. I could've ended up dating one of your granddaughters, for all you know," Oliver said with a wink, and Maggie nudged her brother in the ribs for this. "Ouch!... Explains why you didn't get much dating in yourself, though. You went from nothin' to married! Boy… You didn't get any time to learn how!"

"I think he was going on dates but just didn't realize it," Maggie suggested. "He was thinking it was still a couple of friends together, not a couple…"

"It wasn't a marriage in any classical sense, it was just to have an excuse to leave the country and still be able to look after her," Fujuju corrected them, blushing a bit.

"She seems like she was very lovely…" Maggie looked at the photographs on the kitchen table—There were a few smaller ones now, including a wedding photo. "…It… It's really a shame we never got to meet her."

"I need to speak with you… Alone," Botan spoke for the first time, walking into the kitchen and standing in front of Fujuju. "It… It's about my rent…" she said flatly, although from her look, away and serious, she wanted to speak about something completely unrelated.

"We'll go study," Maggie gripped Oliver by the arm, and pulled her brother away, toward the living room.

"B-But it's summer vacation!" Oliver yelped as she drug him out.

"…You left out part of your story," Botan said quietly, taking a seat next to the stunned Keronian.

"How… Did you…"

"Maggie Martin is right. I'm good at reading men," Botan replied. "Why did you find it necessary to omit part of your story?"

"Because I needed to save some face, and… That part of my story I want to be just mine, just for a little longer. Call me selfish if you will, but I wanted just a little bit to hold on to. It's nothing they would have been particularly interested in, anyway… But someday I'll tell them, I'm sure," he admitted with a wry laugh. "And you're absolutely right; it was another year before I was captured…."

"What happened in that year?"

"You're surprisingly curious," Fujuju admitted, and she looked down at the table.

"I find it annoying when a story is left unfinished. And yours would not make sense unless the last part were told, as well."

"What happened, truthfully? I decided I'd be a fool not to let myself be happy for once, and that I'd be an idiot not to love the one person who'd ever loved me back in return. I walked back in and told her I'd never make her cry like that again. I was selfish and I wanted to keep what I had never had before and didn't know if I could ever have again—A family of my own. I still had reservations about everything working out, but… Somehow it seemed to for a time. Probably would have remained so if I hadn't been captured. I became dead-set upon staying a Pekoponian until my last breath… Even if it meant never seeing my true self in the mirror again… And we were very, very happy," he replied quietly.

"You were happy? As a Pekoponian?"

"Extremely... You know, out of over ten million years, I've only had twelve good ones? Six where my parents raised me, four where I lived with Eliza's family... One where I lived with her alone, and one with the children," he admitted with a fond smile. "I was only found because I was having a malfunction with my cloaking device. Such a silly thing... I'd actually out to pick up some milk when it all happened. So while it wasn't as dramatic as being taken right after a heated argument, it's true I never got my last goodbye."

"…If you hurry, you may be able to get that," Fujuju's eyes went wide at this statement, but Botan only remained stoic. "….I told you I hate unfinished things."

"You… You mean you found her? You found Eliza? How?!"

"I had some favors that needed to be repaid," she replied, and stood. "We don't have much time."

"It worries me if someone like you is saying that…"

California was warm, sunny, and gorgeous; the sun shone through the panes of the large Victorian style home as they made their way into it. It wasn't fully lit, but the home was full of art, artifacts, pictures, and books all from around the world.

The woman who greeted them at the door wasn't Eliza; it was a young nurse, dressed in purple scrubs. She said nothing to them, although she gave a gasp at the sight of the tall albino woman who stood with the redheaded man in the scarf, and the blonde near-identical twins.

"Come in…" she finally said quietly. "You three, if you'd stay here, I'll lead Mr. Grant up…"

"I won't be long, children," he spoke softly to them, and followed the woman upstairs.

"Wow, do you believe this place, Ollie?" Maggie whispered as she looked about with her brother, looking at all of the photographs on the wall…

They started with pictures of Eliza's family, then gradually turned into ones with Fujuju in them, too. Then it was just Eliza—But even she wasn't alone in these pictures, that were taken in places all over the world. There was a child who gradually, slowly transformed into an adult herself in many of the later pictures.

Maggie's eyes went wide at a color photo of the mystery girl—Bright green eyes and red hair, "O-Ollie… Would you look at…"

"Bloody… He may not have dated, but I think he didn't skip a lot of other steps," Oliver folded his arms, and laughed a bit. "I wonder if Oriri and his sister are gonna get to know about her."

"Who?" Botan turned around and blinked, and Maggie smacked her brother on the arm lightly.

"No one," Maggie answered. "No one at all…"

"Well he's a bit of a dog, hehe!" Oliver chuckled, "So, when do you think we'll get to meet this lady? Boy, she's gotta be old by now! Old as Gram was! Man, I hope they aren't gonna hook up again, that'd be bloody horrifying."

"Ollie!"

"What? I'm just bein' honest!"

"You won't," Botan said quietly, and both shot their heads towards her. "There isn't enough time for that."

"You mean…?" Maggie choked.

"But… You can do something about that, right? I mean, you're in control of time, that means you can fix it!" Oliver exclaimed, and Botan was visibly hurt by the helplessness she knew she had over the situation. She said nothing, only avoided the boy's eyes.

"This is something that not even Time is above, and that's the time a person's given," she replied quietly; this only made Oliver angrier, and he snapped at the Time Bender.

"So you're gonna do nothing, after you drag him all the way here!? He's been waiting years to meet her again, there's gotta be something! Like… Turn back time, or go back and make it so he doesn't get caught!"

"Even if it were possible, it would mean you'd never meet him," said Botan.  
"I… I don't care!" he snapped. "We… We'd make it just fine, right, Mags?"

"Ollie…" Maggie tugged on his hand. "It… He's getting to say goodbye. That's all he ever wanted. Plus, if he ends up with her again, think about who else we'll never see," she added in a whisper. "It wouldn't be fair to the other Eliza, or her brother. They need their chance."

"It's still… Not fair…" Oliver muttered. "It's not fair… It's just not…"

"I'm more than in agreement with you," replied Botan quietly, looking up at the staircase.

"Well, if it isn't Mr. Grant! I hope you brought the milk! You know you're a bit late for dinner!" came the laugh of a familiar voice as Fujuju entered the room. The nurse looked at him once more, and closed the door behind them, remaining out in the hallway. "You'll have to excuse her; she's just been dealing with great deal of visitors… And when I told her my husband was coming, I think she pictured someone a bit older."

"It… It's wonderful to see you, Eliza," Fujuju said quietly, and she set aside her book and laughed. "You look beautiful."

"You can take off your costume; I know you don't like it. And you don't have to lie, either. I'm old, I'm only as good looking as someone my age can be!" she chuckled, and he did so, switching back into a Keronian, and then climbed up and taking a seat on the bed, cross-legged. "You, on the other hand… You look just as I remember you."

"Well, as long as I'm in my original form, I age as a Keronian does… Not very fair, for either of us… At least you're still better-looking than I ever was," he said quietly, looking down at the intricately knit comforter.  
She laughed at this, and shook her head. Time had taken its toll on her, but for her age she was still graceful-looking, with her short gray hair done up, glasses, and blankets atop her. But she had the same smile, and the same blue eyes.

He looked to his left, and along with a large stack of books and some knitting work, he saw more photos on the dresser table—And more photos of the mystery redhead girl, "Eliza, who is… Who's this here?" he asked as he looked at the bright green eyes of the young woman, his own reflecting back in the glass of the photograph.

"Her name is Rita. My daughter," she replied.

He picked up the photograph, studied it a moment, and set it back down on the table, slowly, "I… I had no idea. Who is her—"

"She looks good for her age…. I wish I only had so much luck!" Eliza laughed. "Her father was a military man. She's on her way now, coming in from Paris. Large book fair there, she never misses it… She speaks French, as well as several other languages! Now, who was that tall woman, and those twins? Your children?"

"Well, yes, and no… They're my pupils. I've taken up tutoring again… They're both brilliant. I'm not sure if they know it yet, but they are. The other is a friend of mine, another alien…. Eliza, where… Where were you? I looked everywhere for you! I even went back to England to search for you!"

"Oh, I went everywhere. I traveled to England a great deal to look for you, but… I suppose after a while I gave up hope of seeing you again, and I was getting older—You didn't want to be held down in the first place, much less with an old lady… When you left, I was at a loss with myself. Then I recovered, and I began to live my life. I wasn't lonely, though, Rita was there all along the way with me. She's wonderful company, a very, very bright girl. We've been everywhere… Borneo, Russia—Australia. Wherever the wind took us. I'd always hoped to find you again somewhere, Elijah. I… I was always hoping I'd get the chance to apologize to you, and to make sure you're all right."

"Apologize to me?"

She only nodded, then after a moment's thought spoke, "You knew it wouldn't have worked out, but I was foolish and convinced myself it would… Convinced you it would… I was so hopeful for it… But you were right; I wasn't old enough for it yet, and you weren't safe with that sort of life. I suppose that some things are just vain attempts to defeat fate."

"We gave it a good try, didn't we, Love?" he chuckled lightly.

"Did… Did you know that Thomas was never the same after that night he got in that fight with you? Said to everyone he could think of that I was intent on marrying some sort of lizard monster… Of course no one believed him, and he was tossed out of the military," she said with a laugh. "You were right about that, too… That fool married the next girl he could find and ended up near-broke when that woman took off… My only regret is I spent so much time pining after him."

"What of your father? What happened to him?"

"Father…" she looked away, towards one of the windows. "Well, I know he and Nanny will be there wherever it is I'm set to go, and that's comforting to me. After the war, I went back to see them, to introduce him to his granddaughter… They did miss you dearly… I knew you never left me on purpose, Elijah. They knew, too. You would have never done that."  
"I thought all these years… That you'd hate me…"

"No. Never for a moment. You gave me too much for me to hold anything against you," she answered. "Because of you I was able to carry on after you left by myself. I figured that's what you would have wanted."

"That's exactly it, Eliza… You look tired, my dear child. You should rest for a bit—You've earned a good rest," he said quietly. She nodded and sighed, closing her eyes.

"Well, at least we got to see one another before it came to that. Elijah… Why don't you read to me a bit? My eyes are too heavy for it right now… I missed you reading to me."

"Yes, of course," he reached over, and picked up the book she'd been reading, "Grapes of Wrath? That's a good one…"

"It's one of my favorites… My husband gave that book to me, you know…"

"Really? What's your favorite part?"

"Oh, anything but the ending. I'm just awful with endings… I enjoy the ride getting there so much more."

"Me, too…" he nodded, his voice just above a whisper, and picked up the old novel. He read aloud, trying his best to keep his voice together, while she listened and smiled contently, "Good-by, she said, and she walked quickly away. Her eyes were wet and burning, but she did not cry… Her footsteps were loud and careless on the leaves as she went through the brush. And as she went, out of the dim sky the rain began to fall, big drops and few, splashing on the dry leaves heavily…"

He read until he knew she couldn't hear him anymore. Then he quietly shut the book and patted her hand gently, "Goodnight, Eliza."

"This is for you," Botan set down the tea, and took a seat beside him on the couch. Maggie and Oliver had left him to be alone after returning back to England, and Fujuju had returned to his home quietly.

"Thank you," he only looked out ahead, his head resting on his small arms, lost in his thoughts. He'd looked like he'd been crying, but if he had it was out of Botan and the Martin twins' sight.

"Also… Your wife's caretaker told me to give this to you," she picked up a small stack from the other side of the couch, and he took the bundle—The first thing, on the top of pile, was a photo album. It was stuffed with old photographs.

…A picture of them standing in front of her father's wrecked car that had been crashed through an old henhouse—The farmer could be seen glaring at both of them, shotgun in hand. There was one that was a picture of her and he father on a fishing trip, then one of her and Fujuju in front of a mountain range in New York—A trip they'd taken during his last year with her. It was a little different from the one Maggie had found—In this one she'd placed an arm around his shoulders, and he… He looked happy. There were dozens of photographs in the album.

There were also some newer ones, and some that confirmed the suspicions he'd had about Rita.

"So is she…?" Botan started.

"That or Eliza was familiar with another Keronian. I gave her a way to reach me. For when she's ready," he answered quietly, shutting the photo album. "I won't push anything with her."

"What if she doesn't want anything?"

"Then she won't have it," he answered quietly. "But... I think she'll eventually show up here."

Also in the bundle were few small books, ones he had owned, a few of the other scarves she had knit for him at different points, and then a few records, including a copy of the one he had destroyed days ago.

"…That looked enjoyable, the dancing," Botan was attempting her best at conversation with him, and he looked to her a moment, then back at the album. "Do you still remember any of it?"

"Yes, a bit," he admitted with a nod, and sat up straight. "I'm still no good, I'm afraid…"

"Would you… Show me?"

"You? Well, you're full of surprises, Miss Botan," he blinked with surprise, and then sighed. "….This is to make me feel better, isn't it?"

"Has it worked at all?"

"Not really, but I appreciate the effort. I… I never pass up a learning or teaching experience, you know how I am! But I'm afraid there's a bit of a size differentiation, so…" he reached to his symbol on his hat, glowing for a moment and then sitting there in his Pekoponian form. He stood, tripping a bit in the body he had grown unused to, but managed to put on the record. "I hope you don't mind this…"

"All right now," he took her by the hand, and slowly showed her the steps of the slow dance, which she followed along clumsily. She was still taller than him, but now only by half a head. "You're not bad at this!" he said with a tiny, reassuring smile.

"I'm not?"

"No, you're awful. But we'll work on it," he answered. "It's… The least I could do to repay you, after everything..."

"I did nothing; it was simply your past, organized."

"Yes, but… It was in need of organization. Sometimes that's just what one needs to move on," he spun her around once, and could have sworn even she gave way to a brief smile. "And I think… That while my moving on started some time ago, that I'll be able to do it with more peace of mind, now… So thank you."

"You're welcome," she answered as the song finished. "That… That was enjoyable. I would not mind doing that again at a later time."

"I'm glad you think so. I had a good time, as well… But really if we're going to do this more often, one of us is going to find some coordination! Now come on, let's try that once more… And don't be afraid to just get a feel for the music… That's the key to this sort of thing, you know," he said to her chidingly, and put on the record once more to play.

The End

Yeah, so… There we go. It felt odd finishing that, and I'm actually a little sad it's done : Sorry if the ending was sad, I really, really hope I didn't harsh anyone's day there O.O' I promise I'll make it up with something happy next time, lol. Not sure if I'll ever go into that "Lost Year" they had, but just rest assure it was a very nice one for them both. Thanks a lot for sticking it out with me…

I was my own worst critic when I thought about doing a historical piece fanfic… I think this is one of the few Keroro WWII fanfics, probably the only one, lol. I like taking a break from my usual every once in a while to do something like this… I know it was different from what I usually write, although I'm not sure how quite, but it really was a lot of great fun to make.

I did have a lot of fun putting to use the stories my grandma told me about growing up in New York City during the Depression and the War, I don't think I would've had any clue how to even start this if she hadn't told me so many growing up… At least that left me with half a clue on how to tackle this, lol.

I'm sure one of the questions is going to be "Well, are we going to meet Rita?" answer—I wouldn't count that out ^_^. I wouldn't count anything out quite yet, including seeing a comic version of this yet…

Well, I think I'm going to take a nice little break now, get my head back to where it needs to be after this. Hope you all liked… I think I'm going to go watch a nice musical now…


End file.
